CORNWALL – The unemployment rate for Eastern Ontario dropped slightly in February.
Statistics Canada says the rate for the area from Brockville to Ottawa and east to the Quebec border was 6.1 per cent, down two-tenths of a per cent from January (6.3 per cent).
It’s the lowest regional jobless rate since March 2020 when it was 5 per cent.
In Cornwall, the figures went the opposite way as the unemployment rate went up to 11.1 per cent in February from 10.3 per cent the month before. Statistics Canada data suggests about 900 people locally left the labour force. The employment rate went from 49.2 per cent in January to 49.1 in February.
Nationally, the country added 259,000 jobs in February as the jobless rate fell to 8.2 per cent – also the lowest it’s been since March 2020.