B.C.’s Jobs Minister says we can expect a slowdown of job gains through the fall months.

Speaking to NL News, Michelle Mungall says that’s because many jobs lost earlier in the pandemic have been restored.

She says that’s good news but says there’s more work to do.

“And that’s exactly why we set aside $1.5 billion dollars for an economic recovery stimulus. We are just putting the final touches on that package right now, and I think British Columbians are going to see a package that’s really going to be able to help them out. Help out our local communities, help out our local economies and get us up and running again.”

That provincial money will be unveiled later this month.

More than 15,000 jobs were restored in B.C. in August.

“Initially, we saw a lot of the jobs coming in the retail and the restaurant sector services. And now we see growth in manufacturing and agriculture. The numbers aren’t entirely surprising. In fact they show us the trajectory that we want to make sure that we’re getting onto, and making sure that we laid a good foundation for longer-term economic recovery,” Mungall says.

The provincial unemployment rate dropped slightly last month, to 10.7 per cent. In Kamloops, that number was 12.1 per cent, up from 11.3 per cent in July.

Mungall says 62 per cent of jobs lost in March and April have now been restored, a total of 246,900 out of 396,000 jobs.