 So far this year, job placements are up 28 per cent with Kelowna-based Okanagan Staffing Services, according to president Kevin Renwick. |
After all, he's helped a lot of people find jobs lately in the city's recovering economy.
"So far, in the first six weeks of this year, we've seen a 28-per-cent increase in placements over the same time last year," said Renwick, president of Okanagan Staffing Services.
"And it's active in all areas. Companies are looking for workers ranging from receptionists and sales managers to project managers and accountants."
Okanagan Staffing Services' business is two-fold.
It pre-screens job seekers and workers and it helps companies fill positions.
"We find the right match," said Renwick.
"By the time companies come to a recruiter, they are looking for workers with certain skills and they want experience too."
In January, Kelowna's jobless rate was 6.4 per cent, quite the dip from the 7.5 per cent it was at in December.
In a bit of confusing news meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the wider Thompson Okanagan area was 6.5 per cent, a jump from December's 5.7 per cent.
Quite often such variations are explained by the small sample size surveyed in Kelowna and the Okanagan.
Also in the winter, some job searchers give up until spring when prospects may be better.
As a result, those people aren't actually counted as unemployed because they aren't actively looking.
The same sort of confusing numbers show up in the national jobless rate.
Canada's unemployment rate for January was down to seven per cent from 7.1 per cent in December.
However, across the country 21,900 people lost their jobs.
In B.C., the jobless rate also contracted to 6.3 per cent from 6.4 per cent in December.
The provincial Liberal government used the drop to tout that B.C.'s economy is stable and recording steady job gains.
It's also proud that the average hourly wage in the province is $24.28, a 2.2 per cent increase from the same time last year.
The job and salary growth is attributed to expansion in some of B.C.'s main industries, such as forestry, mining, gas extraction and fishing.
However, the opposition NDP and Conservative parties are poking holes in the numbers.
"No amount of taxpayer-funded television advertisements can hide the fact that (Premier) Christy Clark's Job plan has been - and is - a colossal failure," said B.C. Conservatives leader John Cummins.
The Conservatives are basing their comments on the labour force number in the province, the combined figure of those working and actively looking for jobs, which stands at 2,451.900, a drop from 2,467,400 in January 2012.
"No matter how you look at it, overall jobs numbers have been underwhelming since the plan was announced," said NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston.
"And private sector jobs in B.C. have seen a massive drop."
The lowest unemployment rates in the country are in Regina with 4.1 per cent, Edmonton at 4.3 and and Quebec City 4.6.
The cities with the highest are Saint John, N.B. at 9.9 per cent and Peterborough, Ont., at 9.8 per cent.
Labour statistics
KELOWNA
January 2013
Population aged 15-plus: 150,200
Labour force: 97,700
Employed: 91,400
Unemployed: 6,300
Unemployment rate:
6.4 per cent
December 2012
Population aged 15-plus: 150,200
Labour force: 100,300
Employed: 92,900
Unemployed: 7,500
Unemployment rate:
7.5 per cent
THOMPSON OKANAGAN
January 2013
Population aged 15-plus: 434,100
Labour force: 261,600
Employed: 244,600
Unemployed: 17,000
Unemployment rate:
6.5 per cent
December 2012
Population aged 15-plus: 434,500
Labour force: 267,100
Employed: 251,800
Unemployed: 15,200
Unemployment rate:
5.7 per cent
