B.C.’s economy gained 24,000 jobs last month, as the provincial unemployment rate fell to 7.1 per cent.

Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon says 98.5 per cent of pre-pandemic job losses have been restored.

“We did see in the survey that there was a significant increase in (full-time) jobs and a slight decrease in part-time jobs. I see that as a positive sign, it means small businesses and medium-sized businesses are starting to hire full-time employees. And they were very cautious in the early months, and I think it’s a positive sign to start seeing full-time employment,” Kahlon says.

“We knew that to build a strong foundation for recovery, we had to have a strong public health focus. And that’s been a priority from day one. And the survey shows some positive news; B.C.’s economy keeps trending upwards.”

In Kamloops, the unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent last month.

For the Thompson-Okanagan, the unemployment rate fell to 7.4 per cent last month, down from 8.1 per cent in October.

The caveat to November’s job numbers, is including residents who are unemployed but did not actively look for work, the unemployment rate would’ve been 10.9 per cent in B.C., instead of 7.1 per cent. That, however, is still a significant bounce back from the early months of the pandemic.

Kahlon also says, with a second wave of COVID-19 upon us, B.C. runs the risk of backtracking on jobs if case counts continue to rise like they have for the past five weeks.

“We could see some losses (this month), and that’s why it’s critically important for people to follow the advice of Dr. (Bonnie) Henry, follow the advice of Minister (Adrian) Dix, because we need to keep case count numbers low so we can continue to see the economy bounce back.”

Kahlon also recommends people to shop local over the holidays and focus on supporting small businesses.