Jobless rate down, but unease being felt nationally

Greater Victoria continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, according to Statistics Canada’s latest numbers.

Our region had a rate of 3.6%, with 244,700 people working out of a labour force of 253,800. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6.6%. Notably, fewer people are switching jobs likely because of the ongoing uncertainty of a looming trade war.

“The job changing rate, which measures the proportion of workers who remained employed from one month to the next but who had changed jobs, was 0.4% in January,” Statistics Canada reported. “This was lower than the corresponding proportion in January 2024 (0.5%) and lower than the pre-pandemic average for January from 2017 to 2019 (0.7%)”

The national job market was something cited by the Bank of Canada today when it released its Summary of Governing Council Deliberations explaining it’s decision to cut interest rates on Jan. 29.

“According to multiple indicators, the job market remained soft. The unemployment rate was 6.7% in December, with new entrants into the labour market — mostly younger workers and newcomers to Canada — finding it particularly hard to get a job,” the Bank said.