The London area's jobless rate was unchanged in November.
Figures released Friday by Statistics Canada showed the unemployment rate for the London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was 5.8 per cent last month, unchanged from October. The London CMA includes London, St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other surrounding communities.
The rate was unchanged, despite a loss of about 900 jobs in the area. The impact on the unemployment rate of those job losses was offset by a drop in the local labour participation rate, which measures the number of people who are of working age and are either working or actively looking for work. It fell to 67.2 per cent from October's 67.7.
Across Canada, the jobless rate increased to 5.8 per cent, up 0.1 percentage points. There were employment gains in manufacturing and construction, 28,000 and 16,000, but wholesale and retail trade dropped by 27,000 positions, while finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing fell by 18,000.
Employment for men, 25 to 54, has been trending downwards since June. Over the past five months, employment for that demographic has fallen 0.9 percentage points to 87.3 per cent.November saw gains for women in full-time employment, but part-time work fell by 2.1 per cent. Of those unemployed in November, 68.7 per cent said they were laid off, compared with 62.6 per cent a year ago. The other 31.3 per cent left their jobs voluntarily.
Immigrants who arrived in Canada less than five years ago continue to face barriers in the job market. Six out of ten said they had difficulties finding work in their chosen field despite having foreign experience. The three top reasons were not having enough Canadian experience, having any connections in that field, and lacking references.
There was little change in Ontario's job market for the fifth consecutive month. Employment slipped by one percentage point to 61.3 per cent in November, down from 62.3 per cent in April, while the jobless rate was 6.1 per cent.
**with files from Adelle Loiselle
