The London-St. Thomas unemployment rate held steady last month with only a few hundred more jobs added to the local economy.
Figures released Friday by Statistics Canada show the jobless rate for the London Census Metropolitan Area was unchanged at 8.9 per cent in October. It is the second straight month the region has been at 8.9 per cent after falling from 9.3 per cent in August.
According to Statistics Canada, the London area added 600 new jobs in October, down from 4,200 the previous month and 6,900 in August.
The labour force grew by 800 people. One hundred others began claiming unemployment.
The London CMA, which includes St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other surrounding communities, continue to try to rebound following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March which led to massive lockdowns. The public health measures aims at stopping the spread of the virus cost thousand of jobs and saw the area's jobless rate got from a low of 5.8 per cent in March to a record high 12.6 per cent in June. It slowly declined in the three months that followed as roughly 22,900 new jobs were added to the local economy.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent, down from 9 per cent in September. The Ontario jobless rate rose slightly to 9.6 per cent in October from 9.5 per cent in September. The provincial economy added a total of 31,000 new jobs last month, while the Canadian economy saw 84,000 new positions created.
