CORNWALL – The unemployment rate in Eastern Ontario went up for a second straight month.
Statistics Canada says the jobless rate for the area from Brockville to Ottawa and east to Quebec was at 6.6 per cent last month, up from 6.3 per cent in March.
It was 6.1 per cent in February – the lowest its been since it hit 5 per cent in March 2020.
In Cornwall, the unemployment rate dropped from 10.3 per cent in March to 6.7 per cent in April. The numbers suggest the number of people employed increased by 1,100 while 400 dropped out of the labour force.
Across Canada, the country lost 207,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate rose to 8.1 per cent, from 7.5 per cent the previous month. The third variant-driven wave of the pandemic saw businesses shut their doors under new restrictions.
Ontario’s jobless rate jumped to 9 per cent, up 1.5 per cent from March as the province lost 153,000 positions.