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Windsor

Jobless rate dips but reasons cast doubt on growth

Windsor's jobless rate fell by 0.2 percentage points last month, but the reasons why suggest the labour market in the city is shrinking.

November's unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent, down from 10.8 per cent in October. However, Statistics Canada's latest Labour Market Survey, which was released Friday, said Windsor lost another 200 jobs.

The Labour Participation Rate shows the labour market in the city also shrunk 0.3 percentage points to 57.1 per cent. That means about 300 people stopped looking for employment.

Employment grew across the country in November, but the pace of growth is slowing. Last month, 62,000 net jobs were added to the national economy, compared with 84,000 in October.

While the number of full-time positions grew by 99,000, it was offset by the loss of 37,000 part-time jobs.

It was enough to drive down Canada's jobless rate to 8.5 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from October.

In April, at the height of the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 13.4 per cent.

Gains over the months since have left the country with a shortfall of 574,000 jobs compared to pre-pandemic employment.

Another key indicator measuring the health of the economy is the number of hours worked. That increased by 1.2 per cent in November, a figure the agency considers steady.

In Ontario, the jobless rate dipped half a percentage point to 9.1 per cent as 37,000 people returned to work.

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