There's some good news for the third straight month for Prince George unemployment.
In the latest Labour Force Survey numbers released by Stats Canada today (Sept. 4), it shows B.C.'s northern capital hit 9.6 per cent in August, a slight, but encouraging decrease compared to 9.8 per cent in July.
It was also a good month for the province overall, which saw a drop from 11.1 per cent in July to 10.7 per cent last month.
Canada saw the largest decline for the unemployment rate, dropping 0.7 percentage points from 10.9 per cent to 10.2 per cent.
Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness Michelle Mungall said in a release the government is happy to see the positive numbers continue for B.C.
"The monthly labour force numbers for August show that B.C.'s safe restart plan continued to make positive job gains for the fourth month in a row, with 15,300 jobs created in British Columbia last month - 87 per cent of which were full-time jobs," she said. "Added to the employment gains we saw in May, June and July, B.C. has now recovered 246,900 jobs, and total employment now stands at 94 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in February.
"Our focus on restarting B.C.'s economy in a safe, responsible manner has strongly supported our efforts to battle the pandemic as well as get our economy back on its feet. We are committed to building a recovery that works for everyone, and the next steps in B.C.'s recovery plan will be announced later this month.
"I continue to be impressed by how resilient people in our province have been, both in responding to the virus and in supporting our businesses and workers. We are making progress together."
In Canada, employment rose by 246,000 jobs last month (+1.4 per cent) compared to 419,000 in July (+2.4 per cent).
The whole employment increase in August was in full-time work, Stats Canada says while the number of part-time workers was little changed.
The numbers also showed 16.1 per cent of Canadains from ages 15 to 69 reported recieving either the CERB, CESB or Employment Insurance benefits in four weeks before their interviews. The rate was down 2.3 percentage points from July.
