Kamloops Unemployment Rate Jumps to 6.5% After June Job Losses
Updated
Updated · radionl.com · Jul 10
Kamloops Unemployment Rate Jumps to 6.5% After June Job Losses
3 articles · Updated · radionl.com · Jul 10
Summary
6.5% unemployment in June put Kamloops at its highest rate of 2026, up from 5.9% in May after the local economy lost a few hundred jobs, Statistics Canada data showed.
That marked a fourth straight monthly increase from 3.8% in February, when Teck hiring for the Highland Valley Mine Life Extension helped make Kamloops one of Canada's lowest-unemployment cities.
Kamloops still outperformed some B.C. peers: Nanaimo's rate fell to 7.4% from 8.5%, while Kelowna's rose to 9.2% from 9.0%.
The 6.5% rate now matches both the provincial and national averages, even as those broader jobless rates edged down in June.
B.C. Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon pointed to a new Canada-B.C. agreement and more than $88 billion in proposed projects over three years as a future source of jobs, including funding tied to the Fraser River Tunnel, Red Chris expansion and North Coast Transmission Line.