London added 4,600 jobs in October as the city’s unemployment rate fell to 6.2 per cent in October.
It’s the first decline reported by Statistics Canada in three months. The second half of 2019 has seen the jobless rate on the rise after falling to 4.8 per cent in April, its lowest point of the year.
The 4,600 jobs added in October is the best the London-St. Thomas region has done so far in 2019. The job creation came along with a spike to the overall labour force and a decline in the number of people seeking unemployment.
Since Mayor Ed Holder announced his plan to better match job seekers with employers, London has added 4,400 jobs. However, the city is has only added a total of 200 jobs since city council took over last December. 11,400 jobs were lost between last December and July when the recent job surge began. Holder said back in June the city was in the midst of a jobs crisis.
London’s participation rate increased in October, rising almost a full percentage point to 59.9 per cent.
While London no longer has the worst participation rate in the province, it’s still well below the national and provincial averages. London’s participation rate hasn’t risen above 60 per cent since February.
Nationally, the jobless rate held steady at 5.5 per cent as the economy lost 1,800 jobs in October. By comparison, 53,700 were jobs in September.
In Ontario, the unemployment rate fell slightly to 5.4 per cent.
Comments