The unemployment rate in Central Okanagan dropped significantly last month.
According to the labour numbers released Friday by Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate for Kelowna’s metropolitan area in April was 5.3%. That marked the third straight monthly decline, from a recent high of 7.2% in January, and represented a relatively large 1.4% drop from March.
The rate is still high by Kelowna standards, as it is usually between 4% and 5%, but it appears the figure is starting to better represent the region’s labour situation. It is still tied for the 24th highest mark among Canada’s 37 metropolitan areas.
Last month, Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission manager Krista Mallory said the region’s recently high unemployment numbers could be an anomaly, as the survey analyzes approximately 200 households and follows them for about six months, rotating new ones in and old ones out every month.
“What we’re hearing from our employers is that they’re continuing to create jobs and are looking for workers—some sectors more than more than others,” Mallory said last month. “But we’re not hearing from any sector that there’s been any sort of slowdown in that demand for workers.”
The unemployment rate in the entire Thompson Okanagan checked in at 6.1% in April, which was down a tenth of a percentage point.
Kelowna’s job number improvement in April was part of a national trend in which Canada’s unemployment rate hit another record low of 5.2%, even as the pace of job creation slowed to 15,300. Kelowna’s metropolitan area added 2,000 jobs in April.
Statistics Canada also noted the adjusted unemployment rate, which includes people who wanted a job but did not look for one, was 7.2% in April, below the pre-pandemic level of 7.4%.
Average hourly wages were up 3.3% year over year in April compared with a year-over-year gain of 3.4% in March.
Statistics Canada found the proportion of those making less than $20 per hour in April made up 25.9% of all employees, down from 35.5% in April 2019. Meanwhile, employees earning $40 or more per hour represented 24.5% of employees, up from 18.0% three years earlier.
The jobless rate in April fell to its lowest point since at least 1976, which is as far back as comparable data goes, 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.
