June unemployment rate in Kamloops rises to 12.4 per cent

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More people in Kamloops were unemployed in June than in May, according to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada.

Last month, the local unemployment rate was 12.4 per cent, up from May's 10.9 per cent. 

For comparison, April 2020 saw an unemployment rate of 12.3 per cent. June 2019 had a 5.5. per cent unemployment rate. 

The unemployment rate in the Thompson-Okanagan last month was 10.3 per cent, up from 9.5 per cent the month before.

B.C. added 118,100 jobs in June as the province made its initial move into Phase 3 of its economic restart plan.

The province’s unemployment rate now stands at an even 13 per cent, down from the 13.4 per cent recorded a month earlier.

"There’s no question that this is related to the challenges of the service sector industry, of the challenges of the tourism industry, the challenges of not having international visitors," B.C. Finance Minister Carole James said during a briefing following the release of the jobs data.

"You would by now, in Vancouver and in Victoria, being seeing cruise ships, you’d be seeing passengers unload, you would be seeing people (throughout) the downtown core and that’s just not possible."

Canada added 953,000 jobs while unemployment dropped 1.4 percentage points to 12.3 per cent.

James attributed the disparity between the national unemployment rate and B.C.’s unemployment rate to more British Columbians looking to enter the workforce during the pandemic.

The province’s biggest surge unfolded in the accommodation and food services sector, which added 54,800 jobs last month as restaurants opened and British Columbians began travelling throughout the province once again.

— with files from Tyler Orton/Business in Vancouver