More jobs as tourists loom

Photo: Contributed

The Canadian economy added 15,400 net new jobs last month, bringing the unemployment rate across the nation down to 5.8 per cent.

In the B.C, the jobless rate shrank to 4.7 per cent,  facilitated in part by tourism-industry operators beginning to hire for the busy summer season.

In the Okanagan, tourism operators hungry for qualified help scooped up some of their summer employees at a pair of major job fairs earlier this month.

One saw at least 30 industry operators come together to woo potential employees, while the other aimed to bring at least 100 employees on at a major resort.

Countless companies still in need of help are turning to other avenues.

One of their major outlets is online job postings, especially those that target locals. Castanet’s classified section, for example, currently lists more than 1,400 job openings.

While the positions are spread across a wide breadth of job categories, there are close to 250 hospitality listings.

StatsCan also found average hourly wage growth, which has been scrutinized by the Bank of Canada ahead of interest-rate decisions, stayed solid at 3.1 per cent.