Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady
Posted Jan 8, 2010 07:14:36 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent in December, unchanged from the previous month.
Economists had predicted 20,000 jobs added in December after an oversized 79,000 jobs gain in November. But Statistics Canada said the economy actually shed 2,600 jobs last month.
Economists say December’s data suggests the employment picture has largely stabilized.
Ontario’s unemployment rate was also unchanged in December at 9.3 per cent.
Saskatchewan had the best employment rate of all the provinces falling from 5.2 per cent in November to 4.8 per cent last month.
The worst unemployment rate remains in Newfoundland. Although it improved slightly from 15.9 per cent in November to 15.7 per cent in December.
Locally, the unemployment rate rose in Waterloo Region from 9.1 per cent in November to 9.5 per cent last month.
To compare, London’s rate fell from 9.9 to 9.0 in December, while Toronto’s rate held steady at 9.5 per cent.
For the year, the agency says Canada lost 323,000 net jobs, most of which were in the manufacturing sector.
