More people unemployed or left Kelowna workforce in May

Photo: The Canadian Press

The unemployment rate in the Kelowna metropolitan area increased slightly in May, which was on par with the national average.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that the national economy lost 68,000 last month due to COVID-19 lockdowns. The losses marked the second consecutive month of declines after 207,000 jobs were lost in April.

The Canadian unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, which was up a tenth of a percent from last month. The same increase happened in Kelowna, where the unemployment rate nudged up from 5.7% in April to 5.8% in May.

Kelowna still has the fifth lowest unemployment mark in the country, behind only Trois-Rivieres, Que., Sherbrooke, Que., Quebec City and Abbotsford.

Kelowna’s participation rate, which is the number of working-age people who are working or looking for work, fell from 62.5% to 60.4%, and the labour force, which is the total number of people who are able to work, decreased from 114,100 people to 110,600.

The unemployment rate news in the entire Thompson Okanagan region was better in May, as the figure dropped to 7.5% from 8.1% in April.