THE REGIONAL jobless rate fell in May compared to April but only by a slim margin.
This May’s rate was 8 per cent compared to April’s 8.2 per cent.
That works out to around 42,400 people working in May compared to 41,500 people working in April.
This May’s rate is a big drop compared to May of 2010, where the regional jobless rate was 12.8 per cent and 38,000 people were listed as working.
These numbers come from interviews by Statistics Canada of people over the age of 15 who consider themselves part of the workforce whether they are working or not. They are not taken from Employment Insurance figures.
The statistics are for the North Coast to just this side of Vanderhoof.
There were 46,100 people who considered themselves part of the workforce in May, an increase from 45,200 in April.
May’s regional rate of 8 per cent is only slightly higher than the provincial rate of 7.8 per cent and better than Vancouver Island’s 8.1 per cent, Thompson-Okanagan’s 8.4 per cent, and the Kootenay’s 9.5 per cent.
Three provincial regions had jobless rates lower than the North Coast in May: the Lower Mainland at 7.7 per cent, the Cariboo 7.2 per cent, and the Northeast at 5.1 per cent.
The national jobless rate for May came to 7.4 per cent, down from April’s 7.6 per cent.