British Columbia’s unemployment rate was 6.5% in October – a drop of 0.2 percentage points when compared with one month prior.
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for October, released November 8, shows that B.C.’s rate of unemployment remains below the national average of 6.9%, which was unchanged from September.
B.C. lost 5,300 jobs in October, consisting of a drop of 11,000 full-time positions and partially offset by a gain of 5,600 part-time jobs.
Year-over-year, the province’s unemployment rate is down 0.1 percentage points from 6.6% in October 2012. B.C. has 12,300 fewer jobs than it did one year ago, while the labour force dropped by 12,300 to 2.5 million.
Canada-wide, October saw a gain of 13,200 positions consisting of an increase of 16,000 full-time jobs and partially offset by a 2,700 dip in part-time positions. The unemployment rate is down 0.5 percentage points year-over-year from 7.4%.
The lowest unemployment rates remain in Saskatchewan (3.6% – a drop of 0.7 percentage points), Alberta (4.4% – down 0.1 percentage points) and Manitoba (5.5% – steady since September).
StatsCan releases labour force numbers monthly.
