BC’s Jobs Minister says despite 22 consecutive months with the lowest unemployment rate in the country, British Columbians can’t get too complacent about the future.

Bruce Ralston was speaking on the NL Morning News, where he said the issues between the US and China have an impact on the global economy, but added that BC as a much smaller jurisdiction is “doing pretty well.”

He also said that a competitive labour market can have its own consequences, especially on small businesses.

“Sometimes small businesses find themselves looking for people or find it harder to keep people that they’ve hired,” he said. “But I think that these are problems that they’d rather deal with than having soaring high unemployment.”

Ralston added it’s also important to ensure that people are well trained in the skills that employers want and need in the future.

“And that’s where the university and the colleges come in and train people to provide them with the skills that employers want and need to go forward,” noted Ralston. “We’re engaged in trying to get more people into apprenticeships. They are the workforce of the future as well.”

According to Stats Canada, B.C. added 16,800 jobs in May, with 12,400 of those being full-time jobs, while 4,400 were part-time.