BC created nearly 20,000 jobs in February, as Statistics Canada says more than 50,000 full-time private-sector positions were added across the country last month.
Economists were predicting only minor improvements but the strong numbers helped BC keep its unemployment rate nailed at the January setting of 6.3%.
Looking closer to home, Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training says the North Coast Nechako region had a reduction of 1400 jobs, last month however the unemployment rate continued to do well at 7.4%.
“That’s on the low side of what we’ve seen in the region,” Bell says, “We are quite bullish on the region, we think we’ll do quite well, and as we move into summer and we start hearing about mining and natural gas projects, we think the area is well positioned.”
Nationally, Canada’s rate also didn’t budge from January to February, sticking at an even seven per cent.
StatsCan says the reason for the static rate is that the number of newly created jobs equaled the number of job seekers who resumed pounding the pavement last month.
