Unemployment rate drops in Canada and B.C.

Dec 1, 2017 | 5:49 AM

OTTAWA —     Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate in this country dropped to 5.9 per cent last month — down four-tenths of a point from its October setting — to reach its lowest level since February 2008.

    Number crunchers say nearly 80-thousand net new jobs were created nation-wide last month.

    B-C’s rate was also down by one basis point to 4.8 per cent in November, with the number of people looking for work in Victoria falling by half a per cent to 3.3 from 3.8 in October.

    Unemployment in Abbotsford was also down three basis points to 4.9 per cent last month, while Vancouver’s rate stayed static at 4.2 per cent and Kelowna’s rate nudged upward from six per cent in October to 6.1 per cent in November.