CORNWALL – The unemployment rate for Eastern Ontario dropped sharply in August.
Statistics Canada says the area from Brockville to Ottawa and east to the Quebec border dropped to 7 per cent from 7.7 per cent in July – the lowest it’s been since April’s 6.6 per cent.
Across the country, the economy added 90,000 jobs – most of them full-time – to bring the national unemployment rate down 0.4 per cent to 7.1 per cent last month.
Cornwall didn’t appear to fare as well. The employment rate dropped to 52.9 per cent from 55.1 per cent in July as more people exited the labour force or lost jobs. The rate of unemployment was 7.1 per cent.