British Columbia employment remained virtually unchanged in November with only 1,400 more people working compared with the previous month. Year-over-year hiring growth of 0.3 per cent fell well below the national performance of 1.6 per cent.

The province bucked the national trend of rising unemployment—with a dip in B.C.’s unemployment rate of 0.1 points to 5.7 per cent— but it was for the wrong reason. The labour participation rate edged down to 63.6 per cent from 63.7 per cent last month, along with a 0.2-per-cent increase in population. This points to an increase in discouraged workers.

Growth in full-time employment in B.C. offset the decline seen in part-time employment in November. Full-time employment rose 0.4 per cent (8,400 people), while part-time employment contracted 1.2 per cent (6,900 people). The Vancouver census metropolitan area........

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