The unemployment rate in Kelowna fell again in April, aligning the city more closely with the rest of the country than has been the case in recent months.
The rate dropped to 5.3 per cent in April from 6.7 per cent in March. In February it was one of the highest numbers in the country, coming in at 7.1 per cent.
In the same time, employment numbers rose from 107,500 to 109,500.
Similarly, Canada’s jobless rate also dropped.
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The unemployment rate fell to another record low in April even as the pace of job creation slowed, suggesting a tightening of the labour market.
Statistics Canada said Friday the jobless rate fell 5.2 per cent for April as the economy added 15,300 jobs.
That’s down slightly compared with the previous record low unemployment rate of 5.3 per cent set in March, when 72,500 jobs were added.
The adjusted unemployment rate — which includes people who wanted a job, but did not look for one—was 7.2 per cent in April, below the pre-pandemic level of 7.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
The national statistics agency said the labour underutilization rate, which includes people who worked less than half their usual hours for reasons most likely connected to pandemic labour market disruptions, rose 0.8 percentage points in April.
Increased absences due to personal illness or disability contributed to more employed people working less than half their usual hours.
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