Statistics Canada reports increase in Kootenay region’s unemployment rate in April

Statistics Canada has released its updated unemployment numbers for the month of April.

The federal agency says the regional rate in the Kootenays was at 4.3 percent in March, up over a full percentage point from the 3.2 percent rate reported one month earlier in March.

A total of 3,700 people were reported out of work in the region last month.

Nationally, the unemployment rate held steady at five percent.

March was the fifth straight month the unemployment rate held at a near-record low of 5 percent.

In BC, the provincial unemployment rate was five percent, an increase from March’s 4.5 percent rate.

– With files from Statistics Canada.