It continues to get worse when it comes to unemployment in northern B.C.'s unofficial capital.
According to the Labour Force Survey released today by Statistics Canada for January 2020, the unemployment rate recorded for Prince George was at 7.7 per cent, up from 5.8 per cent in December.
Northern B.C. has struggled with jobs since the announcement of numerous mill closures and curtailments at mills and through the B.C. Interior.
"While our labour markets remain strong across most communities, we recognize there are workers who have been affected by market shifts in the resource sectors," Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness Michelle Mungall said in a release.
"Our government remains committed to helping these workers and their families and will continue to provide support where it is most urgently needed."
Prince George recorded an employment rate of 62.4 per cent for January.
Meanwhile, Canada finished January with a 5.5 per cent unemployment rate which is a 0.1 per cent drop compared to December (5.6 per cent).
B.C. continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4.5 per cent, another decline of 0.3 percentage points in January (4.8 per cent).
Canada saw 35,000 jobs added during the first month of 2020, all in full-time work.
The additional employment in January contributed to gains totalling 268,000 (1.4 per cent) since January 2019.
A resource sector that saw a large increase last month was the goods-producing sector, where there were 49,000 jobs added with gains in manufacturing (+21,000), construction (+16,000) and agriculture (+12,000).
There were fewer jobs in health care and social assistance (-16,000) but gains of 236,000 in the services sector from January 2019 to January 2020 which is a 1.6 per cent increase.
The gains were spread across several industries, mainly finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing; professional, scientific and technical services; and health care and social assistance.
