BC Business
B.C. Unemployment | BCBusinessThe newest job numbers for B.C. show gains in jobs, but the good news is tempered by a stagnant unemployment rate.
B.C.'s December job numbers and unemployment rate gave us the good, the bad and the ugly for 2011. It’s always nice to end your week on a high note, and Statistics Canada sort of delivered this morning with their monthly job numbers. B.C. added 11,000 new jobs in December, and made a yearly gain of 1.4 per cent in 2011, just a bit higher than the national average of 1.2 per cent. Nationwide, the economy added 17,500 new jobs in December.
It’s always nice to end your week on a high note, and Statistics Canada sort of delivered this morning with their monthly job numbers.
B.C. added 11,000 new jobs in December, and made a yearly gain of 1.4 per cent in 2011, just a bit higher than the national average of 1.2 per cent. Nationwide, the economy added 17,500 new jobs in December.
These positive gains were a pleasant surprise after we saw significant nationwide job losses for October and November (54,000 and 18,600, respectively).
But don’t start cheering just yet. These numbers are tempered with some bad news.
While B.C. saw positive gains, the unemployment rate remained stagnant at 7 per cent. Not to mention most of the positive gains in the province were for part-time rather than full-time jobs.
Canada’s economy gained 199,000 jobs for the year, but the report shows the large majority of the gains came in the first six months of 2011. The last six months haven’t been so kind to unemployed Canadians, as the unemployment rate actually increased to 7.5 per cent in December.
Analysts point to the European debt crisis as a culprit for the idling economy. Hopefully, today’s news of strong U.S. jobs gains will boost global economic spirits.