Prince George job numbers held steady in an overall bad month for B.C. employment.
The province is still on a strong positive job growth trend, but the month of October was a step backward. According to Statistics Canada data, B.C.'s labour pool lost about 18,600 people last month to stand at 2,484,800.
B.C.'s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour, Prince George's Pat Bell, there has been a net increase of 31,100 jobs across the province since the government launched its Jobs Plan about 14 months ago.
"The data indicates Prince George lost about 100 jobs last month, which is basically flat, when you factor in the statistical plus-minus margin of error," he said. "Prince George continues to be at the highest level of employment in its history."
The biggest hit to the labour pool, according to Statistics Canada, was the loss of 8,300 jobs in October from the manufacturing sector. Most of that was lost in the Lower Mainland, the data indicated, but Bell was caught off guard by this aspect of the research.
"I don't know of any major curtailments or closures in that sector so I am trying to understand what happened there," he said, with ministry staff already delving into that question.
The northwest has not enjoyed the same employment gains during the Jobs Plan timeframe. The Babine Forest Products closure (though apparently temporary) caused some job losses in that region, and the anchor city of Terrace has been essentially treading water within the labour statistics.
"It is the region that concerns me most," said Bell.
The northeast has strong employment numbers (the hurdles there are affordable housing), and the Kamloops region's employment numbers have been buoyed by the opening of the New Afton Mine which has its own workforce but also a spinoff economy.
Provincewide, however, "I am not happy with the month...it was a tough month for B.C.," Bell said.
