A grim Christmas is shaping up for thousands of Kelowna residents with another big leap in the city’s jobless rate.

The unemployment rate rose to 11 per cent in November from 9.3 per cent in October. This means that 16,200 people are now looking for work, up from the 13,800 who were on the job hunt in October.

Kelowna’s jobless rate is now far higher than it ever was during the pandemic, and it’s highest in B.C. after several months of steady increases.

Kelowna’s jobless rate is nearly three times higher than Victoria, where a bountiful supply of provincial government jobs saw the capital’s unemployment rate actually decline, from 4.2 per cent in October to 4.1 per cent in November. It’s at least two points lower than any other city in B.C. where jobless numbers are tracked by Statistic

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