BC gained 2,800 jobs last month according to the latest labour force survey from Stats Canada.

Despite the job gains, the unemployment rate grew 0.8 percentage points to an even 8%. BC Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation Minister Ravi Kahlon says it continues a three month trend of more people re-entering the work force.

“Usually a good sign of economic recovery is when you go into a recession you start seeing people drop out and stop looking for work. And what we’re seeing now is we’re starting to see eight months of continued job increases and we have seen just this month alone 28,000 people come into the job market to look for work.”

Kahlon says we are also seeing more British Columbians gain full time employment as the province added more than 4,000 full time jobs last month.

“We’re in the middle of a second wave and our economy continues to show how resilient it is. There’s I think two main reasons for that. One is people are doing the right thing. People are staying within their bubbles, staying within their household and following the rules which allows us to keep our economy open as much as we can.”

Kahlon also gave a pat on the back to the NDP government for providing the supports to keep people employed.

The national unemployment rate in January was 9.4%.