British Columbia had Canada’s lowest unemployment rate in July, at 5.6 per cent, Statistics Canada announced Friday.
Unemployment in B.C. has been falling consistently since December of last year, with job growth driven in part by construction and real estate, StatCan’s numbers show.
Since January, construction in B.C. has added 11,500 jobs, transportation and warehousing had added 10,100, and “finance, insurance, real estate and leasing” added 8,800. The Lower Mainland has seen soaring real estate prices in recent years. In Vancouver, a detached home now costs $1.5 million, up 38 per cent in a single year.
But B.C. is among the few bright spots in Canada. Nationally, unemployment rose to 6.9 per cent in July, though it has fallen a third of a percentage point nationally since the beginning of the year. Ontario and Manitoba’s rates have been roughly flat since January.
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B.C.’s encouraging employment numbers didn’t extend to Kelowna, where the 7.4 per cent unemployment rate wasn’t much less than Edmonton’s 7.7 per cent.
WATCH: It’s a bit of an economic puzzle. On one hand, Kelowna seems to be a fast-growing boom town, with building permits flying out of City Hall. On the other hand, the Central Okanagan City has been dubbed “The worst city in Canada to find a job,” according to a BMO labour report.
Alberta
Alberta, pummeled by collapsing oil prices and the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire, had Canada’s highest unemployment rate west of the Maritimes, at 8.6 per cent. And Calgary had the highest unemployment of Western cities, at 8.6 per cent.
READ MORE: Calgary housing market continues to cool, board cites rising unemployment
For a second month running, the national statistics agency didn’t include employment numbers for the Fort McMurray area because of disruptions linked to the wildfires in May and June.
The missing data makes it hard to tell how many jobs reconstruction projects in Fort McMurray are creating. In May, TD senior economist Michael Dolega predicted that rebuilding efforts would provide some relief for the Alberta economy starting in the third quarter.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire presents silver lining for Alberta contractors
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan, whose oil industry, like Alberta’s, has also hit by falling energy prices, saw unemployment rise to 6.3 per cent, almost double the rate in April of 2014. That’s roughly the same time that Alberta’s rate started to rise.
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