Region creating more jobs

The Cariboo and Fraser Fort-George regions showed positive economic growth last year, however the recovery has not been seen in all sectors.

A report by the Chartered Accountants of B.C. released on Monday shows the region created a net 2,800 new jobs in 2010. The unemployment rate dropped from an average 12.1 per cent in 2009 to an average 8.1 per cent - still higher than the provincial average of 7.6 per cent.

"The unemployment numbers are fantastic," KPMG chartered account Stan Mitchell said. "Mostly it's full time, good-paying jobs."

However not all sectors of the economy shared in the job growth.

The trade, transportation and warehousing sectors saw the biggest job increases, with a total of 4,800 new jobs. A total of 19,400 were working in the sectors in 2010 -the highest number since employment peaked in 2007.

A thousand new jobs were created in education sectors and modest gains were made in manufacturing, financial, real estate, professional services and public administration sectors.

However the health care, social services, hotel and restaurant sectors shed 4,100 jobs between 2009 and 2010.

The resource sectors and construction lost another 700 jobs last year, according to the report.

Other indicators included a drop in the number of business bankruptcies from 36 to three, and 21.9 per cent decrease in personal bankruptcies.

"It definitely tells me we're coming out of the recession quite well," Mitchell said. "And there seems to be more activity in the market."

Business investment dropped slightly from $6.2 billion to $6.1 billion, but the value of projects under construction jumped from $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion.

"As ground breaks on these new projects we will see a boost in the employment and investor confidence; these projects serve as solid foundations for long-term growth, development and investment," he said.

The full B.C. Check-Up, Cariboo regional edition is available online at www.bccheckup.com.