More Nunavummiut working in 2010

Nunavut added 900 jobs during the last three months of 2010, according to figures released Jan. 7 by Statistics Canada, but the territory’s unemployment rate still went up.

That’s because more Nunavummiut were looking for work. Nunavut’s unemployment rate rose 2.5 percentage points to 15.2 per cent overall.

It was a good year for all three territorial economies. The Northwest Territories added 1,300 jobs in the last three months of 2010, though again the unemployment rate actually rose—from six per cent to 7.7 per cent— because more people entered the job market.

The NWT’s participation rate—the number of adults working or looking for work—hit 73 per cent. That’s the highest in Canada.

And Yukon added 1,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2010, slashing its unemployment rate nearly in half, from 7.5 per cent to four per cent, the lowest in Canada.

Canada’s unemployment rate stood at 7.6 per cent in December, unchanged from the month before. But the economy added 22,000 jobs last month, mostly in manufacturing, transportation and natural resources.