Northwest Territories has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, according to the latest numbers.
The NWT Bureau of Statistics reported unemployment remained at 5.9 per cent, the same figure it was in December.
That represents a significant drop from the historic highs unemployment reached in the fall, and still markedly lower than the national average, which increased to 9.4 per cent.
Unemployment is at 6.1 per cent in Yukon and 7.1 per cent in Nunavut.
“Nationally, employment levels saw greater declines due to COVID-19 than the NWT,” the report from the NWT Bureau of Statistics read.
The NWT’s employment rate was at 65.8 per cent, surpassing pre COVD-19 levels and making it the second highest in Canada, after Yukon 66.4 per cent.
Alberta was third at 60.8 per cent. Newfoundland & Labrador and Nunavut had the lowest rates at 47.4 per cent and 48.6 per cent employment rate.
Statistics Canada, the federal agency who calculates unemployment data, said in their report that January’s data was the first month where the second wave was showing its impact in unemployment numbers.
Many provinces in Canada implemented new lockdowns or tighter COVID-19 restrictions in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases, dubbed the second wave.
