Unemployment rate rises in B.C. despite national drop

Canada's jobless rate fell to 7.9 per cent in June its lowest rate in a year but in B.C. unemployment figures bucked thetrend, climbing to 7.8 per cent.

It is the first time since February 2005 that B.C.'s unemployment rate has been virtually equal to the national rate.

Most of the job losses in B.C. were outside the main urban centres, including cities such as Abbotsford, where the rate rose half a percentage point to 8.4 per cent.

But the unemployment rate remained at 7.5 per cent in Vancouverand 5.9 per cent in the capital,Victoria.

Statistics Canada credits the dip in the national rate to the creation of more than 93,000 jobs in June, almost all of them in Ontario and Quebec.

Forecasters had predicted between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs would be added and that the national unemployment rate would be stable at 8.1 per cent.