While the rest of Canada shivered through a winter of mixed emotions over cheaper gas and job losses, the Northwest Territories added 200 pay cheques between January and February, bringing the number of people at work to 21,800.
Employment was at 67.7 percent, well ahead of the national average of 60.5 percent, but well below historic levels for February. The rate previously peaked at 75 percent in 2007, falling below 70 percent after the recession of 2008, according to NWT Statistics.
Year over year, the number of people working in the NWT dropped by 300 in February, and the number of self-employed fell by 500, while public sector employment increased by 300, the report stated.
The service sector continued to dominate, providing 18,200 jobs, a decline of 100 jobs from February 2014, while the goods-producing sector stood at 3,600 jobs, a loss of 200 jobs.
According to the report, 19,600 persons worked full-time and 2,200 at part-time jobs. Private sector employment fell by 100 jobs, year over year, to 10,900. Public sector employment increased by 300, to 9,300 in February.
The ranks of the self-employed took the largest hit, dropping 500 jobs from February 2014 to 1,600 last month.
