The area’s jobs picture is looking better than had been expected. Kinexus Group chief operations officer Jake Gustafson says summer has improved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The job bounceback is much better than we expected,” says Gustafson. “The concern had been we thought we were going to be in double-digit unemployment numbers, in a pretty conservative estimate, through the end of quarter four in 2020.”
Gustafson says the jobless rate is back into single-digits.
“This month we registered in at 9.9% unemployment. I want to be cognizant of what I’m saying there. It’s not to celebrate 9.9% unemployment; that’s still more than double what were sitting at in February, but you recognize that’s a one-month positive change of over 3%.”
He adds if normal trends continue, he estimates unemployment will be even lower in August and drop to 8.3%.
