Yukon's June unemployment rate double last year's amid recession fears
Yukon's unemployment rate reached 8.3 per cent in June, more than double what it was a year earlier, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.
The territory's unemployment rate — the number of adults looking for work but who can't find jobs — was 3.9 per cent in June 2014.
Bishnu Saha, the director of the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, says there are two likely factors for the increased rate
"First, North American Tungsten Corporation's Cantung mine laid off approximately 80 employees in June. Most of the employees are located in Watson Lake," Saha said.
"The second factor is seasonal adjustment process. The numbers that we usually analyze are seasonally-adjusted numbers."
In total, 1,700 Yukoners were looking for work in June, up from 800 a year earlier.
Yukon's unemployment rate in June is higher than Canada's rate which remained unchanged at 6.8 per cent last month.
In the N.W.T. and Nunavut, employment rates were little changed.
Statistics Canada says gains of 64,000 full-time jobs were offset by the loss of more than 71,000 part-time jobs. The latest figures come amid concern that Canada is slipping into a recession.
Canada's economy shrank 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, largely thanks to a steep drop in the price of oil.
