Jobless rate ticks up

More people were out of work in the Oshawa area last month, but numbers remain lower than they were a year ago.

According to new numbers from Statistics Canada, the Oshawa census metropolitan area, which also includes Clarington and Whitby, had an unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent in February, amounting to approximately 12,800 people out of work. This is up from January’s 5.1 per cent representing 11,700 people without work.

While February 2017’s numbers broke a five-month streak of dropping unemployment rates in the Oshawa area, it remains lower than when that run started.

The unemployment rate last month is also lower than it was a year ago, with February 2016 seeing a rate of 6.1 per cent, representing 13,600 people.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell 0.2 per cent to 6.6 per cent, with 15,000 more people finding work. Statistics Canada notes the unemployment rate was the lowest seen in Canada since October 2008.

In the past year, employment in Canada has gone up by 1.6 per cent, or 288,000 people.