Unemployment rate holding steady

Prince George’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.8 per cent in April, according to data released by Statistics Canada.

The unemployment rate was unchanged from March, but showed marked improvement from April 2021, when the city’s unemployment rate stood at 5.5 per cent.

The city’s labour force participation rate – the percentage of working-age people employed or actively seeking work – dropped by 0.8 percentage points from March, down to 66.9 per cent.

A total of 53,100 people were holding down jobs in the city in April, down by 600 from March. Prince George’s unemployment rate was below the provincial average of 5.4 per cent and the national average of 5.2 per cent.

“After reaching a record low of 5.3 (per cent) in March, the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 (per cent) in April,” Statistics Canada reported.

“A number of signs have pointed to an increasingly tight labour market in recent months. In addition to increases in full-time work, one aspect of this tightening has been a decrease in the proportion of part-time workers reporting that they would prefer full-time employment. The involuntary part-time employment rate fell to 15.7 (per cent) in April 2022, the lowest level on record.”

The number of people working parttime who would rather be working full-time peaked in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 26.5 per cent of part-time workers wanted to be employed full-time, Statistics Canada added.

In a statement issued on Friday, B.C. Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation Ravi Kahlon said B.C.’s economy saw a 0.1 per cent drop in employment in April, after eight straight months of creating more jobs.

However, he said, B.C.’s economy is still one of the strongest in the country.

“This marks 11 straight months when B.C. has led the country in post-pandemic job recovery with 92,500 more people working today than before the pandemic. There are also 49,600 more people working in the private sector now than before the pandemic,” Kahlon said. “This is one of the highest private-sector recovery rates in the country.”