Kelowna economy grows by 2,000 jobs

The unemployment rate in Kelowna took another significant drop in April, down to 5.3% from 6.7% in March and 7.1% in February.

Across greater Kelowna, there were 2,000 more people working last month than in February, with total employment rising from 107,500 to 109,500.

The population rose by only 400 people month-over-month, so that means the growth in employment was caused mainly by people who’d been idled finding work rather than by inmigration.

In the three other B.C. cities where employment figures are tracked by Statistics Canada, the jobless rate was lowest in Victoria at 4.4%, while it was 4.5% in Abbotsford-Mission and 5.4% in Vancouver.

Nationally, the unemployment rate edged down to 5.2% in April from 5.3% in March.

“Increases in employment in professional, scientific and technical services and public administration were offset by declines in construction and retail trade,” StatsCan said Friday in its monthly release of jobs data.

The number of Canadians with jobs plunged from 19 million to just over 16 million following the onset of the COVID10 pandemic in March 2020. Since then, employment has steadily recovered and has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with 19.6 million people working.

With a tightening job market, wages are on the rise, Statistics Canada says, climbing 3.3% last month compared to April 2021.

Nearly one in four employees now earns $40 an hour or more, the agency says. That’s up from about one in seven who earned this much or more in April 2019.

Kelowna’s jobs picture through the pandemic has been one of a steep initial decline followed by a relatively quick recovery. The Central Okanagan had one of Canada’s lowest jobless rates through the latter half of 2020 and much of 2021.

Joblessness spiked over the late fall and winter, for a time being on par with St. John's, N.L, but total employment in greater Kelowna has increased again for several months.