Statistics Canada says the jobless rate fell in April for the country to another record low as employment was little changed for the month with a gain of 15,300 jobs.
The unemployment rate came in at 5.2 per cent for April compared with the previous record low of 5.3 per cent set in March.
The drop in the rate came as the number of jobs in professional, scientific and technical services rose by 15,000 in April and the public administration category gained 17,000.
The number of people working in retail trade fell by 22,000 in April and those working in construction dropped by 21,000.
Statistics Canada says a number of signs point to an increasingly tight labour market in recent months including a drop in the number of part-time workers that would prefer full-time work.
The involuntary part-time employment rate fell to its lowest level on record at 15.7 per cent in April.
B.C.’s unemployment rate rose by 0.3 points to 5.4 per cent in April.
The agency says there are 2,735,800 people employed in the province, and estimates there are 4,415,200 people over the age of 15.
Of the population, there are 2,891,400 people participating in the labour force. Someone has to be employed, or actively seeking work to be considered part of the labour force, so retired people or others who aren’t seeking work are not counted.
In Victoria, the unemployment rate rose to 4.4 points from 4.1 points in March 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2022.
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