More people have jobs in the territory than this time last year, but an influx of more people into the labour force has offset any statistical employment gains.

Though the Yukon's unemployment rate fell more than half a percentage point last month to 7.2 per cent, it remained higher than the same time last year (6.3 per cent).

In August 2009, 16,400 people in the territory had jobs compared to 16,600 last month.

But it is the expanding labour force – how many are employed plus those not yet working but seeking it – that has kept the Yukon's unemployment rate from reaching the lows it did in 2009.

Last month, the Yukon's labour force was 18,000 strong, while in August 2009, that figure was 17,400.

"We have rebounded pretty much back to where we were prior to the (economic) downturn in 2008,” said Gary Brown, spokesman for the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

"The labour force peaked in November 2008, when we were sitting at 18,300 ... so we're pushing back to where we were before.”

Mining and construction booms in the Yukon are largely responsible for the territory's recovery in terms of employment, said Brown, and likely explains the 2.4 per cent the rise in population.

In June 2010, nearly 35,000 people called the Yukon home, compared to 34,157 in June 2009. Building permits issued from January to July 2010 were valued at $82 million.

Mining exploration investment is expected to hit $140 million this year and development and production investment in the mining sector is projected at $320 million for 2010.

"Jobs in the goods-producing sector was back to 3,100 in August, and that's as high as we were just prior to the downturn in 2008, so we've seen that sector rebound completely,” said Brown.

"The jobs are getting better, and it's drawing people back who had withdrawn from the labour force.”