Michelle Mungall, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness, has issued the following statement on the release of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for January 2020:

“The January labour force report kicks off 2020, demonstrating that our approach of building a stable economy is working.

“B.C. starts the new year, again, with the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.

“Our government was elected 30 months ago, and for 29 of those months, B.C. has had the lowest unemployment in the country. In January, B.C.’s unemployment rate fell further to 4.5% — well below the national average.

“Since forming government, our province has created more than 67,000 jobs, including 3,400 jobs last month. Yesterday, the 2019 Labour Market Outlook showed B.C. is on track to create more than 860,000 jobs this decade.

“Wages also saw an increase in January. Average wages went up to $28.83/hour. In the last year, wages have gone up $1.73/hour (6.4%) and have increased $3.43/hour (13.5%) over the life of our government.

“While our labour markets remain strong across most communities, we recognize there are workers who have been affected by market shifts in the resource sectors. Our government remains committed to helping these workers and their families and will continue to provide support where it is most urgently needed.”