While the B.C. unemployment rate is 6.6 per cent and the national jobless rate is 7.5 per cent, the unemployment rate in Northeast B.C. is too low to measure, and may be below 4 per cent.
The unemployment rate in the Northeast was too low to be reported in July, according to the latest Statistics Canada estimates released August 6.
There were 36,600 employed in the region last month, with the number of unemployed "suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act," Statistics Canada noted.
Northeast B.C. is the only economic region in Canada to have its unemployment data suppressed. The last time unemployment was this low was in February 2020 just before the onset of the pandemic.
Statistics Canada says it suppresses estimates below 1,500 unemployed people to prevent “direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data." With a reported labour force of 37,900 in July, there are about 1,300 without jobs in the region, according to the data.
Based on that data, the jobless rate in the Northeast could be 3.4 per cent or lower, but no one knows for sure.
Statistics Canada reported that 900 jobs were lost during July in the Northeast, compared to a month earlier.
The Northeast, which includes the city of Fort St. John, is in the midst of B.C.’s liquefied natural gas industry and the site of B.C. Hydro’s Site C dam project.
Unemployment in B.C. as of July 2021
- North Coast and Nechako - 7.9 per cent
- Lower Mainland Southwest - 7.4 per cent
- Cariboo - 6.0 per cent
- Kootenay - 5.8 per cent
- Thompson-Okanagan - 5.1 per cent
- Vancouver Island and Coast – 5.0 per cent
- Northeast - ?
B.C. as a whole shed 3,100 jobs in July, according to Statistics Canada, noting that only Manitoba, at 6.6 per cent and Quebec, at 6.1 per cent, have a lower provincial unemployment rate.
While full-time employment in B.C. increased by 3,300 jobs last month, those gains were negated by the loss of 6,500 part-time positions.
