Prince George saw a dip in the jobless rate in May, with Statistics Canada reporting it Friday at 4.7 per cent. That's down from 5.3 per cent in April, and lower than the national May average of 6.2 per cent.
The report indicates about 54,600 people were working in Prince George in May.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6.2 per cent in May, up 0.1 percentage points in the month and 0.9 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.
Average hourly wages among employees increased 5.1 per cent (+$1.69 to $34.94) on a year-over-year basis in May, following growth of 4.7 per cent in April (not seasonally adjusted).
Employment was up for young women aged 15 to 24 (+48,000; +3.7 per cent) and for women aged 55 and older (+21,000; +1.1 per cent) in May. At the same time, employment declined among core-aged women (aged 25 to 54) (-40,000; -0.6%) and young men (-23,000; -1.6%).
Employment rose in May in health care and social assistance (+30,000; +1.1 per cent), finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+29,000; +2.0 per cent), business, building and other support services (+19,000; +2.7 per cent), as well as accommodation and food services (+13,000; +1.1 per cent). It declined in construction (-30,000; -1.9 per cent), transportation and warehousing (-21,000; -1.9 per cent) and utilities (-5,400; -3.5 per cent).
