British Columbia’s unemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points to 5.3 per cent (seasonally adjusted) in December as a result of a shrinking number of jobs (-0.3 per cent) and a slight expansion in the size of the labour force (+0.1 per cent). This marks the fifth consecutive month in which the province has failed to see an increase in the number of jobs. Nationally, unemployment rose to 6.6 per cent in December due to a large drop in full-time employment.
