FORT ST. JOHN -- The unemployment rate for Northeast B.C. dropped in November to 4.1%, according to Statistics Canada.

1,300 jobs were added in the region, bringing the jobless rate down from 5.8% in October.

British Columbia's workforce remained steady with another 4,600 jobs added throughout the province.

However, the provincial unemployment rate remained steady at 5.6%, the same as the previous month.

Nationwide,  jobless rate fell from 6.7 per cent in October to 6% last month as the economy added 154,000 jobs.

That brought the rate closer to the 5.7 per cent recorded in February 2020 just before the pandemic struck.

For the first time since August, Statistics Canada recorded a drop in the number of long-term unemployed -- which now stands at 62,000.