Unemployment rate in London area drops as economy recovers from COVID-19

The London-St. Thomas unemployment rate fell to 9.3 per cent in August, according to numbers released Friday morning by Statistics Canada.

It marks the second straight month of declining unemployment in the region after the figure fell to 10.5 per cent in July.

The area added 6,900 jobs in August.

“Prior to COVID, we would be delighted with the kind of job increase we are seeing but let’s remember that’s getting us back partly towards where we were prior to COVID,” said Gerry McCartney, CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce.

London-St.Thomas is still down close to 11,900 jobs since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Nationally, the pace of job gains slowed compared to July, which saw an increase of 419,000 new jobs, as 246,000 jobs were added in August.

The increase was mainly concentrated in full-time work, which lagged behind an increase in part-time employment.

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The federal unemployment rate fell to 10.2 per cent in August compared with 10.9 per cent in July.

The figure marked the fourth consecutive month of gains after COVID-19-related lockdowns this spring, bringing the number to within 1.1 of million pre-pandemic levels.

Employment also rose faster for women than men for the third straight month as Statistics Canada reported women gained about 150,000 positions in August compared to 96,000 for men.

McCartney attributes the increase in women returning to work to the fact many women were the ones who had to stay home and take care of kids during the shutdown.

He said it will also be interesting to look at what happens at the end of the year when subsides like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) no longer exist.

Once pandemic subsides do end, McCartney said it will likely hurt the economy because people will not have the money to contribute to the consumer market anymore.

“I am still concerned we are hearing forecast numbers of 30 per cent of all small businesses not surviving past December 2020,” McCartney said. “Those will put a whole new line of people on the unemployment line without any of these subsidies.”

“Even if they are half right or half wrong, it still concerning number.”