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There's good news for the economy locally, provincially and nationally.
Prince George, B.C. and Canada all saw a rise in employment during the month of February with numerous industries continuing to rebound from losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the latest Labour Force Survey data released by Statistics Canada today (March 12), Prince George recorded an unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent compared to 6.8 per cent in January.
During the first month of 2021, Canada saw an unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent. For February, the nation came in at 8.2 per cent, the lowest since March 2020.
#Employment increased by 259,000 (+1.4%) in February 2021, after falling by 266,000 over the previous two months. There were increases in both part-time (+5.4%) and full-time (+0.6%) work. https://t.co/9vFNM3Tnc8. #CdnEcon pic.twitter.com/zz8F6dLsgv
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) March 12, 2021
British Columbia also dropped from eight per cent in January 2021 to 6.9 per cent last month.
"One year into this pandemic, British Columbia has returned to 99.4 per cent of pre-pandemic employment levels. B.C.'s economy remains one of the strongest in Canada, having created jobs in each of the past 10 months," B.C. Minister of Jobs, Economy Recovery and Innovation Ravi Kahlon said in a statement.
"The Labour Force Survey for February shows B.C. added 26,600 jobs, with the majority of those jobs going to women. This dropped B.C.'s unemployment rate to 6.9 per cent from 8.0 per cent in January, the month before.
"While this does not mean all sectors are back to full strength, it does mean that even as our tourism and hospitality sectors continue to struggle, our economy is growing. It also means our approach is working to support businesses to operate safely, and it means that businesses have stepped up to this challenge with hard work and ingenuity."
Statistics Canada says part-time work saw 171,000 additonal jobs, an increase of 5.4 per cent from January. Full-time work also increased by 88,000 jobs which is an increase of 0.6 per cent.
More people found jobs in the accommodation and food services industry, which added 65,000 more jobs, driven mostly by Ontario and Alberta.
Meanwhile, public-sector employment saw an increase of 46,000.
