The Minister of Jobs says the unemployment rate has fallen dramatically in the Tournament Capital.

Bruce Ralston says only 3.5 per cent of people in Kamloops were unemployed at the end of July, which is down from 5.3 per cent in July of 2018.

“In contrast to the rest of the country, unemployment has gone down here slightly (in B.C.). So from 4.5 to 4.4, and in the Thompson Okanagan region it’s 4.4 per cent, which is the lowest its been in 10 years.”

Ralston says there’s growth in many job sectors in B.C. right now, saying the forest industry is the “dark spot” with well over 1,000 job losses this year.

“Across the economy, perhaps with the exception of the forest industry, there’s growth in many, many sectors. Whether it’s technology, whether it’s agriculture, general commerce and business, the numbers are good across the board.”

The president of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce says July’s low unemployment rate is a positive for the economy as a whole.

“It’s certainly the lowest that I’ve heard. And one of the interesting things is, and I don’t remember this year, maybe a little while ago, but where Kamloops was actually being stated to be double what the provincial rate was,” Joshua Knaak says.

Knaak says low unemployment can be a duel-edged sword for employers looking to hire skilled workers, with fewer people available locally.

He says that could lead to opportunities for recruiting.

“We have never marketed ourselves nearly as well as maybe our neighbours to the south, Kelowna, or some other people. So this is an opportunity to say hey, there’s lot of jobs, employment is strong, housing prices are lower than they are throughout the rest of the province, let’s look at Kamloops as an option for pursuing employment.”