While Canada, on the whole, made up job losses from January last month and posted a lower unemployment rate than February 2020, Windsor did not appear to share the wealth.
Windsor's jobless rate climbed 0.1 percentage points in February to 8.3 per cent. The city lost 1,400 jobs last month and posted the highest unemployment rate in the country.
The city's Labour Participation Rate also fell from 65 per cent in January to 64.5 per cent.
Statistics Canada released its monthly Labour Force Survey Friday morning. It was conducted between February 13 and 19, as many COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
The national economy added 337,000 net positions, driving down the unemployment rate to 5.5 per cent, a drop of one percentage point. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit two years ago today, the country enjoyed a jobless rate of 5.7 per cent. The agency said Friday's showing was just a hair above the record low of 5.4 per cent set in May 2019.
Most of the gains were in the private sector. The greatest growth was in the accommodation and food sector and information, culture and recreation. Retail also recovered any losses it incurred in January.
Not only were more jobs filled, but Canadians also worked longer hours, 3.6 hours more in total, and their pay increased 3.1 per cent from last year, or by $0.92.
In Ontario, the jobless rate fell 1.8 percentage points to 5.5 per cent, as the economy added 194,000 positions. The province hasn't enjoyed such low unemployment since February 2020.
Adjusted to American concepts, employment in Canada is 62.3 per cent, higher than in the U.S., which was 59.9 per cent last month. Unemployment in Canada was still slightly higher than across the border, 4.2 per cent compared to 3.8 per cent.
