THE NUMBER of people working in the northwest was the same in October as it was in September, latest figures from Statistics Canada reveal.
But the jobless rate fell, mostly because fewer people considered themselves as part of the workforce.
The October total of those working was 44,800, matching the September figure and being just 100 below August's working total of 44,900.
The jobless percentage rate, however, in October was 8.2 per cent, just a bit lower than the September rate of 8.6 per cent.
That's because 200 people took themselves out of the work force for one reason or another – 48,800 people considered themselves as part of the workforce whether employed or not compared to 49,000 in September.
The number of jobless was listed at 4,000 in October compared to 4,200 in September.
Statistics Canada takes its jobless rate from the number of people of people over the age of 15 who considered themselves as part of the workforce whether they are employed or not.
The northwest total is taken from interviews of people from the north coast to just this side of Vanderhoof. It is not a statistic of those collecting Employment Insurance.
October's jobless total in the northwest is better than the 8.9 per cent registered in October 2010 when 42,000 people were listed as working.
In BC as a whole, the number of people working fell in October compared to September – from 2,300,700 to 2,299,800.
The jobless percentage did fall, to 6.8 per cent in October compared to 7.3 per cent in September but that was because more people took themselves out of the workforce.
Elsewhere, the northeast's jobless rate of 4.3 per cent in October was the same as September's while it dropped slightly in the Cariboo with 7.8 per cent in October compared to 8.1 per cent in September.
The jobless rate in September in the Kootenays was 8.1 per cent and 7.2 per cent in October while the jobless rate fell a marginal .1 per cent in the Okanagan from 7.3 per cent in September to 7.2 per cent in October.