Image: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

By Alyssa Conti

APRIL JOBS REPORT

Chilliwack, Abbotsford add more jobs as national unemployment rate ticks up to 6.9%: StatCan

May 9, 2025 | 9:35 AM

CHILLIWACK — The job market seemingly sprang into motion across the Fraser Valley, as provincial and national labour figures slowly ticked up in April.

Chilliwack continued to gain significant job momentum last month, adding 900 jobs and cutting down the unemployment rate from 6.6 per cent in March to 6.1 per cent in April.

Abbotsford-Mission also saw big moves between the monthly unemployment figures, albeit upwards. Despite adding 100 jobs last month, the census region’s joblessness rate increased 0.7 points between March and April– from 6.1 to 6.8 per cent.

Those figures match the national joblessness rate of 6.9 per cent in April, up 0.2 per cent from March 2025. B.C. also saw little movement from 6.1 per cent in March to 6.2 per cent in April.

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Across Canada, manufacturing jobs took the biggest hit as tariff uncertainty persisted in the factory industries, but the province held steady against that change.

“The data shows that in April, B.C. had employment increases of 1,800 jobs in the manufacturing sector, which continues to show strong and steady growth overall with gains of 11,300 so far this year,”said Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Diana Gibson in a statement released Friday.

Gains were also made in the public administration (+7,000) and wholesale and retail trade (+5,700) industries, while agriculture spiked up with a 33.6 per cent increase from the previous month.“

“As the tourism season begins, we are seeing people choosing to vacation locally and not travel to the United States. Many British Columbians are stepping up by supporting local restaurants, vacationing in B.C. and choosing locally made products. These everyday choices are a powerful show of support for workers, small businesses and communities throughout our province.”

Accommodation and food services (-10,300) saw the most losses in April across B.C., and natural resources like forestry, mining, and oil and gas extraction (-2,300) also continued to suffer some damage. Local data is not available in the jobs report.

More information is available on Statistics Canada’s April Labour Force Survey.

Premier David Eby virtually met with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday, May 7, to discuss the possibility of a U.S. trade agreement on softwood lumber.