The Yukon’s unemployment rate has steadily risen every month since April, hitting 7.5 per cent in July, according to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

“We’re starting to see, hopefully, that the impact of the COVID is starting to bottom out here,” Gary Brown, a senior analyst for the bureau, told the Star earlier this month.

The monthly labour force report concludes the three-month moving averages are still showing the impact of COVID-19.

There were 1,600 unemployed in the Yukon in July, more than double the 700 unemployed in July 2019.

The jobless numbers don’t account for unemployed Yukoners who weren’t looking for work in July, Brown said.

When the numbers are adjusted to include the decrease in the labour force, it pushes the number of unemployed up to 2,700, or 12.1 per cent.

That number better reflects the number of Yukoners who are unemployed due to COVID-19 and who aren’t looking for another job, Brown explained.

“If you stick straight to the unemployment rate, you’re not capturing everybody … it’s the same in every jurisdiction; this issue is not unique to the Yukon.”

This is only the third time in the last decade that the Yukon’s unemployment rate has been 7.5 per cent or higher.

The last time the unemployment rate topped 7.5 per cent was in the summer 2015.

Brown noted that the Yukon still has the lowest joblessness rate in the country.

The national unemployment rate for July was 10.9 per cent, double the number from July 2019, when the unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent.

The Yukon’s unemployment rate was 2.3 per cent in April, 4.3 per cent in May and 6.2 per cent in June.

“Hopefully, we’re turning the corner here, and people are getting back to work,” Brown said.

The Yukon’s seasonally adjusted labour force was 21,300 in July, dropping 1,400 workers from July 2019. July’s labour force is an increase of 200 workers from June.

The employment rate last month fell 10 per cent from what it was in July 2019.

The Yukon’s average year-to-date labour force and number of employed are the lowest they’ve been since 2016. 

Brown said employment numbers are improving country-wide since the initial dip due to COVID-19.

“All we can do is hope that it’s short term and things bounce back quickly,” Brown said.

“I think, so far, we’ve been impacted less than many other parts of the country, or most of the country, and they’re starting to bounce back so hopefully our numbers will reflect the bounceback as well.”