By Greg Fry

Year-over-year unemployment jumps in Kamloops

Dec 1, 2017 | 10:32 AM

KAMLOOPS — Bad news on the jobs front in Kamloops.

According to Statistics Canada, the year-over-year unemployment rate for November rose to 10.7 per cent from 6.4 per cent in November 2016.

“It looks like there were more people searching for work,” says Stats Canada analyst Andrew Fields. “There were a bit over 3,000 more people searching for work compared with last November. And at the same time employment increased but it looks like the number of people searching for work increased at a faster rate.”

In total, he says there were 7,700 people looking for jobs while there were 64,000 people employed.

Regionally, Fields said the largest employment sector in the Thompson-Okanagan was healthcare and social services.

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“42,000 were working in that sector in November, up 2,700 people from November 2016.”

He also noted the most growth by sector was construction where 30,000 people were holding down jobs. That’s up 8,000 from last year.

On the flip side, Fields said the biggest decline was in manufacturing, where 14,000 people were working last month, down about 6,500 from last year.

The employment picture was a lot rosier nationally where the unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 per cent, down four-tenths of a point from October, and it’s lowest level since February 2008.

B.C.’s unemployment rate was down one basis point to 4.8 per cent in November.