A brick sign welcoming drivers to Windsor is seen at Walker Road near the 401 on March 7, 2016.A brick sign welcoming drivers to Windsor is seen at Walker Road near the 401 on March 7, 2016.
Windsor

Significant gains in employment in Windsor, new records nation-wide

Windsor no longer has the highest rate of unemployment in Canada. The jobless rate fell in April 1.9 percentage points to 6.4 per cent.

The dubious honour now belongs to Calgary, Alberta, which posted a 7.2 per cent unemployment rate last month.

Province-wide, the unemployment rate inched upward to 5.4 per cent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from March.

The April Labour Market Survey was a good news report all around.

Employment changed little across Canada in April. The economy added only 15,300 net jobs.

Canada hit a new low for unemployment as the rate fell 0.1 percentage points from March to 5.2 per cent, the lowest recorded since Statistics Canada started using the current criteria in 1976.

Professional, scientific and technical services, and public administration added jobs, while employment in construction and retail trade fell.

Employment for women aged 25 to 54 increased by 43,000 jobs, but fell for men by 36,000. Overall, unemployment in that age group was down 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 per cent, the lowest rate since 1976.

The involuntary part-time employment rate, those who work fewer than 30 hours a week but want a full-time job, also reached a record low at 15.7 per cent.

Canadians are getting paid more. The average hourly wage climbed to $31.06 an hour in April, up 3.3 per cent from April 2021. Nearly one in four Canadians now make at least $40 an hour.

Statistics Canada said it all points to an increasingly tight labour market.

The agency conducted The Labour Force Survey between April 10 and April 16, 2022.

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