Northeast BC unemployment too low to report, sixth time in 2022

For the third month in a row, unemployment rates for Northeast B.C. were too low to report.

November marked the sixth time unemployment rates were too low to report in 2022.

According to Statistics Canada, unemployment data in the region was “suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act” in January, February, March, September and October.

The act states that data below 1,500 unemployed people is suppressed “to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data. Consequently, geographic areas whose population is below a certain threshold are not published.”

There were 37,200 people employed in the region in November, down 800 jobs compared to October.

In November 2021, 37,300 northeast residents were employed, and the unemployment rate was 4. 1 per cent.

B.C.’s unemployment rate saw a small increase to 4.4 per cent in November, up 0.3 percentage points from October.

Minister of jobs Ravi Kahlon said the province gained 8,800 full-time jobs in November despite there being an overall decline in jobs, mainly part-time positions.

“This reflects the impact of the Bank of Canada’s interest-rate hikes to fight global inflation,” Kahlon said in a release on Friday.

Kahlon said B.C. continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada.

“B.C. saw an increase in private-sector jobs this month (+5,500), and our economic recovery rate of 104 per cent also continues to make B.C. a leader across Canada.”

“As many as 105,000 more people are working now in B.C. than before the pandemic, including 61,700 more people in the private sector.”

Nationally, the jobless rate had a slight decrease to 5.1 per cent.