The city's unemployment rate stood at 7.7 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers issued Friday.
That's up from 5.7 per cent for the same month last year, even though, at 46,900, there were 500 more people working last month.
The difference largely comes down to the number actively seeking work. It stood at 3,900 last month, compared to 2,800 in March 2016.
Concurrently, the number of people of working age not seeking employment was 21,500 last month, down by 1,300 from the year before.
The number of people of working age living in Prince George was 50,700, up from 49,200 last year.
The employment rate rose to 65 per cent last month from 64.4 per cent last year.
In February, the unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent, with 46,600 working, 4,000 seeking work and 21,600 not participating. The employment rate was 64.5 per cent.
The count is based on a three-month rolling average and does not separate full-time from part-time employment. The unemployment rate for March was accurate to within plus-or-minus 1.2 percentage points, 68 per cent of the time.
