B.C.’s unemployment rate moved just a small fraction in July as both the country and the province failed to add a significant number of jobs to the labour force, according to Statistics Canada.
Data released August 8 shows the province’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% in June to 6.1% in July. A year ago, B.C. had an unemployment rate of 6.8%.
While the province only managed to add about 10 jobs in the course of the month, Statistics Canada said the 0.1% decline in the unemployment rate throughout the country was driven by more people leaving the workforce.
Meanwhile, Canada’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.1% in June to 7% in July as the country added just 200 jobs.
Adjusted to the concepts used in the U.S., Canada’s July unemployment rate stood at 6% compared with the American’s 6.2%.
While the national unemployment rate among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 stood at 13.2% in July, B.C. youth unemployment rate was 12.5%.
And as the weather warmed up during the summer, jobs in agriculture jumped 10.7% in B.C. compared with the month before. Jobs declined by 1.7%. in the food, beverage and accommodation sector, however.
B.C. construction jobs neither grew nor declined from June to July.
The Vancouver metropolitan area had an unemployment rate of 5.8% in July, up from 5.5% the month before.
The Northeast region was home to the province’s lowest unemployment rate — 4.7% — while the highest unemployment rate was in the North Coast region, where 10.8% of the workforce was without a job.
