Rising unemployment rates actually not a cause for concern in Prince George

On top of people coming back to work after the covid lockdowns, Newell added the workforce could be growing because more people are coming to Prince George, all of which is great news for our local economy. However, there are some things that won’t be great for employment, like the pulp mill closure or the completion of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, but Newell overall believes our employment numbers will be ok as there are other jobs to be found.

“Prince George’s managed to diversify itself quite a bit over the over the last several years, and I think we’ve been able to absorb a lot of those job losses. Just the other day we had the announcement of the new surgical tower being built at the UHNBC, so that’s going to create a whole bunch of new jobs for that surgical tower in the construction area. And we are still a fairly booming city with regards to all of this,” Newell said.

While our local job market could continue to grow, Napthali added it will be key for our local and provincial government to continue funding projects so work will still be around when construction projects inevitably finish.

“Looking out to the future, it’s about making sure that we can get projects online and get people out to work. And I think that incentivizing those opportunities and looking for economic growth, this is what we need to focus on,” Napthali said.

Newell added healthy unemployment numbers are around 5%, and despite the fact we’re currently at 6.1% he isn’t concerned. The only concern would come if the number steadily rose, but given that our local job market seems quite healthy Newell and Napthali both aren’t worried.

by Tommy Osborne

Rising unemployment rates actually not a cause for concern in Prince George

What's Trending