The unemployment rate in British Columbia remained at 6.4% in February, according to Statistics Canada's latest Labour Force Survey, released March 7.
The province lost over 10,000 jobs in February, but the unemployment rate remained at 6.4%.
“B.C.’s unemployment rate has declined over the past year despite a lack of job growth, reflecting a lower participation rate,” said Central 1 Credit Union in a March 7 economic report. “The latter could reflect prospective workers leaving the job market due to few job opportunities.”
The lost jobs were split fairly evenly between full- and part-time positions.
Central 1 said the decrease in the number of jobs had the effect of “dashing hopes that successive gains in previous months marked a turning point for job growth in the province following a weak 2013.”
B.C. and Quebec, which saw an increase in its unemployment rate from 7.5% to 7.8% and a loss of over 25,000 jobs, were the only two provinces with decreases in the number of positions.
Across the country, the unemployment rate was also stable, remaining at 7%, with little employment growth since August 2013.
StatsCan said 95,000 jobs were created in Canada in the 12 months leading to February. Two-thirds of these jobs were part-time. The category with the biggest increase was professional, scientific and technical services, with a jump of close to 40,000 jobs.
The provinces with the biggest increases in the number of jobs were:
- Alberta – 82,000 more jobs, unemployment rate 4.3%;
- Ontario – 29,000 more jobs, unemployment rate 7.5%; and
- Saskatchewan – 5,000 more jobs, unemployment rate 3.9%.
