Peterborough jobless rate plunges to 5.5%
Now below national, provincial averages
Peterborough’s unemployment rate plunged below the national and provincial averages in October to 5.5 per cent, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
That’s down from 7.1 per cent in September, when Peterborough had the highest jobless rate of Ontario’s census metropolitan areas, and 8.3 per cent in August.
In July, Peterborough had the highest unemployment rate of Canada’s 34 census metropolitan areas. Now Peterborough has the 12th lowest jobless rate.
The national unemployment rate edged up to 6.3 per cent in October from 6.2 per cent in September while Ontario’s jobless rate rose to 5.9 per cent from 5.6 per cent in September.
Nearby, Oshawa’s jobless rate rose to 5.1 per cent in October from 4.9 per cent in September; Kingston’s rose to 5.6 per cent from 5.5 per cent while Barrie’s plunged to 4.4 per cent from 6 per cent.
Peterborough had 400 more people working in October compared to September and 3,200 more working compared to a year ago.
There were 1,100 fewer people looking for work than a month earlier and 300 fewer people looking for work than there were in October 2016.
Peterborough’s adjusted labour force stood at 66,800 in October, up from 63,900 in October 2016. Of those 63,100 were employed and 3,700 were unemployed, compared to 59,900 and 3,400 a year ago.
The labour participation rate was 63.6 per cent in September, up from 61 per cent a year ago.
The Peterborough CMA of about 105,100 people includes the city, the four surrounding townships of Cavan Monaghan, Selwyn, Douro-Dummer and OtonabeeSouth Monaghan, along with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.
Statistics Canada jobless figures are based on surveys adjusted to a three-month rolling average.
Across Canada there was a net gain of 35,000 jobs, with a big boost in full-time jobs. But the unemployment rate rose one notch, to 6.3, as more workers entered the job market.
Most of the job gains were in Quebec. Job creation was flat in Ontario but the unemployment rate rose to 5.9 per cent because of growth in the labour force.
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