London-St. Thomas unemployment falls to 6.3% in March

After rising for three straight months, the London-St. Thomas jobless rate has fallen.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 per cent in March down from 6.7 per cent the month before.

2,100 jobs were created last month while the labour force grew by 1,200 and an extra 900 people claimed unemployment.

Nationally the unemployment rate held steady at its record low of 5.8 per cent.

The economy delivered 32,300 net new jobs last month.

The agency says the labour force produced 68,300 full-time positions last month and shed 35,900 part-time jobs.

However, the survey shows that 19,600 of the new employee positions were created in the public sector, while the number of private-sector workers declined by 7,000.

The report also found that average hourly wage growth, which has been under close scrutiny by the Bank of Canada ahead of interest-rate decisions, strengthened in March to 3.3 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent the previous month.

The unemployment rate also held steady at 5.5 per cent in March. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment in the province grew by 130,000, mostly in full-time work.

With files from the Canadian Press