COVID easing boosts job rate

Easing of restrictions gives economy a boost, but now they’re being tightened again

Greater Kelowna’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.3% in June to 5.6% in July, new figures from Statistics Canada shows.

The total number of people working in the Central Okanagan rose from 104,800 to 107,2000 during the two-month period.

In June, 7,000 people were looking for work in greater Kelowna; last month, that number dipped to 6,300.

The Central Okanagan’s drop in the jobless numbers mirrored the situation nationwide, as Canada’s unemployment rate fell from 7.8% to 7.3%. The economy was helped by the easing of many COVID-19 restrictions across the country last month.

“Between the June and July reference weeks, many jurisdictions substantially eased public health restrictions affecting indoor and outdoor dining, recreation and cultural activities, retail shopping, and personal care services,” StatsCan said.

“British Columbia lifted virtually all restrictions in July,” the agency noted.

Canada is still 246,400 jobs, or 1.3%, shy of pre-pandemic employment levels seen in February 2020.

For much of the latter half of 2020 and earlier in 2021, Kelowna had Canada’s lowest or second-lowest unemployment rate. Now, it’s sixthlowest, behind Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Lethbridge, Abbotsford, and Victoria.

After the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 triggered widespread layoffs and business closures, unemployment in greater Kelowna began to rise and peaked at 10.2% in June.

In January, it was 4.6% and rose in several months after that before declining in July with the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Restrictions have just been reimplemented in the Central Okanagan.

British Columbia was the only province, for the second consecutive month, with total employment above pre-pandemic levels, provincial Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon said in a release.

The job recovery rate in the Thompson-Okanagan region, Kahlon said, was 102.6%, above the provincial average at 100.5%.