Looking for work? It seems Kelowna has jobs and plenty of them.
On Friday, Statistics Canada released its monthly unemployment rates for major cities across the nation, and Kelowna had the lowest average for January at 4.6 per cent.
To put that in perspective, StatCan says the national unemployment rate was 9.4 per cent, or double that of Kelowna.
Read more:
Kelowna had second-lowest unemployment rate in nation for December: StatsCan
The provincial unemployment rate for B.C. was 8.0 per cent, with Vancouver at 7.8 per cent, Abbotsford-Mission at 7.8 per cent and Victoria at 5.0 per cent.
In December, Quebec City had the lowest national unemployment rate at 4.1 per cent, with Kelowna next at 4.7 per cent. For January, though, Quebec City rose slightly to 4.7 per cent.
The provincial unemployment rate for Alberta was 10.7 per cent, down from 11.1 per cent in December. Calgary’s jobless rate was 10.6 per cent, with Edmonton at 11.9 per cent.
National averages
Below are January’s figures posted by Statistics Canada, with December’s stats in brackets.
- Unemployment rate: 9.4 per cent (8.8)
- Employment rate: 58.6 per cent (59.3)
- Participation rate: 64.7 per cent (65.0)
- Number unemployed: 1,899,000 (1,773,900)
- Number working: 18,272,000 (18,484,800)
- Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 19.7 per cent (17.8)
- Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 7.6 per cent (7.5)
- Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 8.0 per cent (7.0)
Provincial averages
Jobless rates for January 2021 by province (numbers from December in brackets):
- Newfoundland and Labrador 12.8 per cent (12.6)
- Prince Edward Island 7.9 per cent (9.9)
- Nova Scotia 8.3 per cent (8.8)
- New Brunswick 8.8 per cent (9.6)
- Quebec 8.8 per cent (6.8)
- Ontario 10.2 per cent (9.6)
- Manitoba 8.0 per cent (8.3)
- Saskatchewan 7.2 per cent (8.0)
- Alberta 10.7 per cent (11.1)
- British Columbia 8.0 per cent (7.2)
City averages
Jobless rates for January 2021 by city (numbers from December in brackets):
- St. John’s, N.L., 8.8 per cent (8.3)
- Halifax 7.5 per cent (7.4)
- Moncton, N.B., 9.2 per cent (9.1)
- Saint John, N.B., 12.1 per cent (11.4)
- Saguenay, Que., 6.3 per cent (5.7)
- Quebec City 4.7 per cent (4.3)
- Sherbrooke, Que., 6.2 per cent (5.8)
- Trois-Rivieres, Que., 6.8 per cent (5.9)
- Montreal 8.5 per cent (8.1)
- Gatineau, Que., 7.3 per cent (7.0)
- Ottawa 6.5 per cent (6.8)
- Kingston, Ont., 6.5 per cent (5.9)
- Peterborough, Ont., 12.8 per cent (13.0)
- Oshawa, Ont., 8.4 per cent (7.8)
- Toronto 11.1 per cent (10.7)
- Hamilton, Ont., 6.8 per cent (8.0)
- St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont., 11.5 per cent (9.1)
- Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont., 8.3 per cent (8.4)
- Brantford, Ont., 6.9 per cent (6.7)
- Guelph, Ont., 6.3 per cent (5.6)
- London, Ont., 7.7 per cent (7.7)
- Windsor, Ont., 10.3 per cent (11.2)
- Barrie, Ont., 14.2 per cent (12.0)
- Greater Sudbury, Ont., 7.9 per cent (7.6)
- Thunder Bay, Ont., 8.4 per cent (7.6)
- Winnipeg 8.8 per cent (8.6)
- Regina 7.6 per cent (6.3)
- Saskatoon 8.6 per cent (8.2)
- Calgary 10.6 per cent (10.5)
- Edmonton 11.9 per cent (11.4)
- Kelowna, B.C., 4.6 per cent (4.6)
- Abbotsford-Mission, B.C., 7.8 per cent (8.3)
- Vancouver 7.8 per cent (7.3)
- Victoria 5.0 per cent (5.8)
