The London-St. Thomas jobless has climbed above 7%.
Figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday morning show the local unemployment rate rose to 7.3% in April, as the area shed 3,300 jobs. The jobless rate was 6.6% in March.
The labour force shrunk by 1,300 while the number of people claiming unemployment benefits climbed by 1,900.
It's the first time since October 2015 that the London-St. Thomas jobless rate has been above 7%.
Nationally, the unemployment rate held at 7.1%.
A solid employment gain in the services sector was wiped out by losses in the goods-producing industry, resulting in a small decline of 21-hundred jobs overall.
Economists have been looking to Canada's manufacturing industry to pick up the slack from Canada's hobbled resources sector, which has struggled amid low commodity prices.
**with files from the Canadian Press
