EASTERN ONTARIO – After months of steady decline, the unemployment rate edged up slightly in Eastern Ontario in January.
Statistics Canada says the rate was 4.4 per cent last month for the area from Brockville to Ottawa and east to the Quebec border, compared to 4.1 in December.
The rate has dropped since June 2020 when it peaked at 8.1 per cent.
Nationally, the jobless rate jumped half a percentage point to 6.5 per cent in January.
The Canadian economy lost 200,000 jobs partly due to restrictions to tackle the Omicron variant. The hardest hit sector was accommodation and food services.