British Columbia lost jobs in January, bucking the Canadian trend.

While Canada on the whole gained 69,000 jobs between Dec. 2010 and Jan. 2011 according to Statistics Canada figures released today, B.C. lost 9,100.

That pushed the unemployment rate in the province up to 8.2 percent. Despite the loss of jobs, employment in the province is up 0.7 percent from a year earlier.

Nationally, the unemployment rate is 7.8 percent, rising 0.2 percentage points from Dec. as more people searched for work, the federal agency said. Employment is up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.