The January unemployment rate in the Thompson-Okanagan was up 0.2 per cent from December, bringing the jobless rate to 4.3 per cent.

Venture Kamloops Executive Director Jim Anderson says an important thing to remember is full employment is not at zero per cent.

“We are really still just hovering around full employment so, that means that the available labour pool to fill jobs where people are leaving or retiring, is almost negligible.”

Anderson says this means, basically everyone whos of working age, is working at some capacity right now, noting that over the next decade the new challenge will be finding enough employees to fill job vacancies.

“There are jobs that exist right now where the person in that job is going to leave, and then there are jobs that don’t exist right now that employers are going to add to their operation,” he explained.

“Its one thing to say ‘oh yeah, the economy is growing, we need more people, that’s great.’ But at the same time, we are looking at another factor where there are people who are going to be leaving the workforce and they need to be replaced as well.”

Anderson says Kamloops generally follows the provincial trends as far as economic data goes.

That said, he notes it crucial to know what those numbers are over a short term locally, to determine where the resources should go to help local employers hire candidates.

Over the next five years, he says Venture Kamloops will have discussions with employers to help try to even out the pain that comes with trying to find talent these days.

Venture Kamloops economic indicators for the Thompson-Okanagan in January 2023 can be found here.