News Economy
Canada’s unemployment rate climbs to 5.7% in October as economy sees modest job gain

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the country’s unemployment rate rose to 5.7 per cent last month, as the economy added a modest 18,000 jobs.

The federal agency released its October labour force survey today, which shows the unemployment rate has risen for the fourth time in the past six months.

The unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in September.

Employment rose in construction and information, culture and recreation, but the increase was offset by declines in wholesale and retail trade as well as manufacturing.

The latest job numbers come as high interest rates are slowing down the Canadian economy.

And while wages continued to grow quickly, the pace of wage growth slowed last month compared to September, with average hourly wages up 4.8 per cent from a year ago.

Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):

• St. John’s, N.L. 6.6 per cent (6.6)

• Halifax 6.2 per cent (7.1)

• Moncton, N.B. 6.3 per cent (5.7)

• Saint John, N.B. 5.8 per cent (6.6)

• Saguenay, Que. 3.3 per cent (3.9)

• Quebec City 2.8 per cent (2.9)

• Sherbrooke, Que. 4.2 per cent (3.5)

• Trois-Rivieres, Que. 4.4 per cent (4.0)

• Montreal 5.4 per cent (5.2)

• Gatineau, Que. 4.0 per cent (4.2)

• Ottawa 5.1 per cent (5.1)

• Kingston, Ont. 4.8 per cent (4.2)

• Belleville, Ont. 6.5 per cent (9.8)

• Peterborough, Ont. 1.9 per cent (2.4)

• Oshawa, Ont. 6.9 per cent (5.8)

• Toronto 6.7 per cent (6.5)

• Hamilton, Ont. 5.2 per cent (5.5)

• St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 6.9 per cent (6.7)

• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 5.7 per cent (5.3)

• Brantford, Ont. 4.1 per cent (4.7)

• Guelph, Ont. 6.0 per cent (4.9)

• London, Ont. 5.8 per cent (6.0)

• Windsor, Ont. 7.1 per cent (6.0)

• Barrie, Ont. 4.7 per cent (4.5)

• Greater Sudbury, Ont. 5.3 per cent (4.6)

• Thunder Bay, Ont. 4.5 per cent (4.8)

• Winnipeg 5.2 per cent (5.2)

• Regina 5.4 per cent (5.2)

• Saskatoon 5.5 per cent (5.4)

• Lethbridge, Alta. 5.0 per cent (5.6)

• Calgary 5.8 per cent (5.9)

• Edmonton 6.0 per cent (6.0)

• Kelowna, B.C. 2.9 per cent (2.5)

• Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 6.1 per cent (5.8)

• Vancouver 5.8 per cent (5.9)

• Victoria 3.8 per cent (3.8)

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2021