Prince George's unemployment rate increased slightly in May to 6.1 per cent, according to the latest information from Statistics Canada.
In April the city's unemployment rate, based on a three-month rolling average, was 5.8 per cent. Prince George's unemployment remained below the Cariboo regional rate of 7.2 per cent and provincial unemployment of 7.8 per cent.
But the increase isn't all bad news, according to Initiatives Prince George senior economic and market research analyst Tara Bogh.
"The unemployment rate is the percentage of people currently looking for work," Bogh said. "We added 900 people to the labour force - 700 of those found work immediately."
The increase in people seeking work reverses a trend seen in the city over the last several months, Bogh said.
"We had a hard time explaining why the labour force was declining when our population was staying stable," she said. "It seems to me that it's just levelling out that trend."
Bogh said the increase to the minimum wage which went into effect on May 1 likely didn't have a significant impact on the number of people seeking work.
"Anybody who is working on minimum wage is likely not in a position to choose if they were working or not," she said.
The city's unemployment remains low, despite the 0.3 per cent increase, she said.
"Anytime you've got unemployment hovering around six per cent you know you've got lots of employment opportunities," she said. "Hopefully we can see an increase in the working-age population to take up some of those employment opportunities."
