Unemployment has reached a new historic low in the territory.

According to unadjusted employment statistics released last week by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, September had an unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent or 700 people.

The statistic shows unemployment is down 1.1 per cent from the month of August and 1.2 per cent from September 2004.

A previous unemployment record was set in July at 4.7 per cent or 800 people.

The bureau has been monitoring employment statistics since 1992.

Despite the smaller number of Yukoners who are classified as unemployed, the employment rate in the territory is also decreasing.

September had an employment rate of 73.5 per cent, falling 1.8 per cent from August.

There were 15,800 people working in the territory in September, with 13,500 in full-time positions and 2,300 working part-time.

In August there were 16,200 people employed, meaning that September saw a drop of 400 people. The number of people working full-time decreased by 500. However, the number of people working part-time increased by 100 in September.

There have been noticeable changes in all the employment numbers since September 2004.

There are 100 less people employed in the territory this September than there were in 2004, with 200 less people working full-time jobs. There were also 200 more people working part-time in the territory this September.

The number of people unemployed has decreased by 200 from 900 people in September 2004.

The participation in the labour force has also gone down. In September 2004, 78.1 per cent of Yukoners were part of the labour force, however this year 76.7 per cent were a 1.4 per cent drop.

Before September 2003, the numbers never dipped below the 10 per cent unemployment mark. Since that time the numbers have been on a slow decline. The statistics related to the size of the labour force and the number of people employed have also been slowly growing proportionally, however, they do fluctuate with the seasons, with the summer statistics generally faring better than the rest of the year.

On a national level, Canada's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the month of September was 6.7 per cent.