(Photo courtesy ©Can Stock Photo Inc. / Tund)(Photo courtesy ©Can Stock Photo Inc. / Tund)
Windsor

Joblessness tumbles in December

With the addition of 7,400 jobs in Windsor last month, the unemployment rate tumbled more than one percentage point to 6.9 per cent.

The jobless rate declined 1.2 percentage points last month, while the labour participation rate climbed to 64.2 per cent.

Those rates fell provincially and nationally as well. Across Canada, the addition of 55,000 net positions pushed the jobless rate down 0.3 percentage points to 5.9 per cent, just slightly above the 5.7 per cent it was in February 2020 before the pandemic began.

Full-time work increased 0.8 per cent in December as the number of those positions increased by 123,000. However, the number of part-time jobs decreased by 68,000, a drop of 1.9 per cent.

Most job growth nationally was in Ontario, where employers filled another 47,000 positions. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since February 2020. A drop of 0.6 percentage points meant the province had a jobless rate of 6 per cent in December.

That figure was its lowest since February 2020, and over the past year, Ontario's economy has added 413,000 jobs.

Hourly wages are up. On average, Canadians received another $0.80 an hour from a year ago.

Statistics Canada's latest Labour Force Survey provides a snapshot of the economy between December 5 and December 11.  It was taken in the weeks before COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant began to spike in Canada and new restrictions were introduced.

January's survey is scheduled for January 9 to January 15. The agency will release it on February 4.

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