The unemployment rate in greater Kelowna dropped from 7.1% in February to 6.7% in March, Statistics Canada says.
A total of 3,300 more people were working in the Central Okanagan last month than in February.
The total local labor force also expanded by 3,000 people while population rose only slightly, a sign that people who may have been discouraged in a previous search for work now believe there are brighter prospects and are once again seeking employment.
But Kelowna’s jobless rate is still the highest among the four BC communities surveyed by Statistics Canada and it’s fourth highest among cities in Western Canada.
Kelowna’s jobs gain mirrored the national picture, as the Canadian economy added 72,500 jobs and the unemployment rate in March fell to its lowest on record, 5.3%. That’s the lowest jobless rate over comparable data going back to 1976, Statistics Canada says.
Most of Canada’s job gains were concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, the agency says.
The tightening of the labor market also meant average hourly wages were up to 3.4 per cent year over year in March, compared to 3.1 per cent in February.
CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham says there may be room for the unemployment rate to fall a little further, given areas of the country like oil-producing provinces were not at full employment before the pandemic struck
While Kelowna is at the higher end of the current unemployment table, the Central Okanagan had one of Canada’s lowest jobless rates through the latter half of 2020 and 2021.
In November 2021, Kelowna’s jobless rate was 4.4%, fourth lowest in Canada.
– with files from The Canadian Press
