The unemployment rate in British Columbia was 6.6% in December, according to Statistics Canada data released January 10, continuing the province's trend of having a lower unemployment rate than the Canadian average.
B.C.'s unemployment rate is down 0.1 percentage points compared with November. While the province's rate fell in December, however, the average rate across Canada grew by 0.3 percentage points to 7.2%, further increasing the gap between unemployment in B.C. and country-wide.
The province gained 12,800 jobs in December, bringing the total work force to 2.3 million. The gain is due to an increase in the number of part-time positions, which grew by 23,100 to 510,900 jobs. This was partially offset by a 10,300 drop in full-time jobs, to 1,798,200 positions.
The country as a whole lost 45,900 jobs – 60,000 full-time positions, offset by a gain of part-time 14,200 jobs.
Year-over-year, B.C. lost 18,900 jobs, consisting of 14,500 full-time and 5,300 part-time positions. Canada gained 102,000 jobs – 19,200 full-time and 82,800 part-time.
The highest rates of unemployment were found in Prince Edward Island (11.5%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (10.8%).
