Victoria's unemployment rate inched up in October to 5.3 per cent from the previous month but remained among the lowest in the country.
Thunder Bay, Ont., at 4.4 per cent had Canada's lowest rate, followed by Quebec City at 4.6 per cent and Regina at 4.9 per cent, Statistics Canada said.
Greater Victoria's rate moved up from 5.1 per cent in September. The capital region's labour force also increased slightly, to 188,300 in October, from 188,100 in September.
The capital region's unemployment rate has been declining overall for the past several months. In October 2009, it was 6.4 per cent.
Year-over-year, the largest increase in jobs was in public administration, which rose by 3,700. Accommodation and food services climbed by 1,500, as did health care and social assistance positions, the federal agency said.
The largest losses in jobs were in the retail and wholesale trade sector, which dropped by 8,400.
B.C.'s unemployment rate moved down slightly to 7.4 per cent last month from 7.5 per cent in September. The size of the province's labour force was 2.507 million in October, from 2.508 million in the previous month.
B.C. saw increases in professional, scientific and technical services jobs.
There were 3,000 additional people employed across the Canada in October, but the gain was well below what most analysts had expected for the month. Still, the unemployment rate edged down to 7.9 per cent from eight per cent in September.
Economists were expecting job gains of 15,000 and the jobless rate to stay at eight per cent, coming off a loss of 6,600 jobs in September.
With changes of less than 10,000 positions, Statistics Canada considered the overall employment figures "virtually unchanged" for the second month in a row.
