N.L. unemployment rate at highest level in 5 years

Newfoundland and Labrador'semployment picture is looking bleaker, following the results of a new labour force survey released by Statistics Canada on Friday.

The survey shows employment numbers across Canadafor the month of December, and breaks down changes in each province since November.

• Canada added 22,800 jobs in December

While the country added more jobs overall last month, Newfoundland and Labrador took another track.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, unemployment is now at its highest level in five years, with the jobless rate jumpingby 1.4 percentage points last month and now sitting at 14.4 per cent.

Statistics Canada says this provincewas the only one to see the number of people working drop over the last year.

StatsCan also found that a significant number of jobs lost were in the natural resources sector, which includes both mining and oil and gas, where prices in commodity markets have plunged.

Compared with December 2013, the total number of jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador dropped by 4,300.

The report showed thatalmost 2,000 jobs that vanished in the last 12 months were in natural resources.