The unemployment rate in London-St. Thomas, Ont., continues to climb amid ongoing impacts from the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Statistics Canada data for June 2020 shows the jobless rate climbed to 12.6 per cent in June, up from 11.7 per cent in May. Both months set new records, eclipsing the previous high of 11 per cent set in August 2009 from nearly 20 years of comparable data going back to March 2001.
The London-St. Thomas region lost 2,700 jobs in June, and the labour force shrunk by 400 while 2,300 more people claimed unemployment. The participation rate continued to slip, falling from 58.8 per cent in May to 58.7 per cent in June. It had been at 61.6 per cent in March.
The unemployment rate has soared from a low of 4.8 per cent in February — before emergency measures were announced due to the pandemic — to 5.8 per cent in March, 8.9 per cent in April, 11.7 per cent in May and now 12.6 per cent in June.
Nationally, however, Statistics Canada says the economy added nearly one million jobs in June as businesses forced to close by the pandemic moved to reopen. The unemployment rate fell to 12.3 per cent in June after hitting a record high of 13.7 per cent in May.
Statistics Canada data for June comes two days after Ottawa announced that the flood of federal spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis will see the deficit soar to $343 billion this year, with officials warning that the economy might never go back to normal.
— With files from Global News’ Matthew Trevithick, Amanda Connolly and Beatrice Britneff as well as the Canadian Press
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