EASTERN ONTARIO – The unemployment rate rose again in August in Eastern Ontario while things continued to improve nationally.
Statistics Canada says the August unemployment rate for the region from Brockville to Ottawa and east to the Quebec border edged up to 9.8 per cent in August from 9.6 per cent in July.
It’s considerably higher than the 5.2 per cent in August 2019.
The Eastern Ontario unemployment rate has been steadily climbing all year since is reached a low of 3.7 per cent in November and December 2019.
Cornwall’s jobless rate was 10 per cent last month, down from 12 per cent in July. Due to the small sample size in Cornwall this figure can fluctuate wildly.
But the region’s unemployment rate is still below Canada’s average of 10.2 per cent in August. That’s down from 10.9 per cent in July as the country added 246,000 jobs – although job gains were slower than in July.