The city's unemployment rate hit a 16-month high of 8.5 per cent in January, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers issued Friday.
The number also represents a 0.6-percentage point increase from December and is in marked contrast to the 6.1 per cent unemployment rate Prince George saw in January 2011.
But dig a little deeper and the picture is not quite as bad - the number of people holding down jobs remained at roughly 49,000 and most of the rise was due to a greater number of people seeking work.
That total stood at 4,300 last month, up by 300 from December and by 900 from January 2011.
The city's working-age population remained at 71,200.
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