File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo Inc. / lisafxFile photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo Inc. / lisafx
Windsor

Wages Post Largest Increase In Six Years

Statistics Canada says Canadians are getting paid more.

Wages climbed 3.6% between April 2017 and last month, the largest increase since October 2012.

The agency released its monthly Labour Force Survey Friday. It says Canada's unemployment rate did not change between March and April and remains at a record low for the third-straight month.

The economy lost 1,100 net jobs, a number so small Stats Canada does not even consider it statistically significant.

Adjusted to American criteria, the jobless rate across the country is 4.9%, compared to 3.9% across the border.

For Windsor, the report says both the jobless rate and the labour participation rate rose last month. It was 6.1%, up from 5.6% in March. The percentage of people employed has increased over the past year. The labour participation rate rose to 59.7%, more than 1.2% increase from April 2017.

Provincially, the jobless rate didn't change and remained at 5.6%. Ontario has added 133,000 jobs over the past year, all of them full-time.

St. John's, Newfoundland continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the country at 8.9%, while Kingston and Ottawa had the lowest at 3.9%.

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