The London-area unemployment rate rose last month amid job losses to its highest level in the past year, up more than half a percentage point to 6.5 per cent.
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The increase in the regional jobless rate – up from 6.2 per cent in June – came amid the area losing about 2,400 jobs in July, Statistics Canada reported in its latest snapshot of the area labor market Friday.
The uptick caps a year in which the unemployment rate for the region, which also takes in St. Thomas, Strathroy and portions of Elgin and Middlesex counties, has trended north after hovering around a record low in May of last year, when the jobless rate stood at 4.4 per cent.
In total, nearly 312,000 people were employed in the London-area labor market last month.
At 6.5 per cent, the London area’s unemployment rate is below the Ontario average, which stood at 6.7 per cent last month, but above the national rate of 6.4 per cent, which was unchanged last month.
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The higher unemployment rate in the London area comes amid the backdrop of a slowing Canadian economy still grappling with the effects of higher interest rates brought in by the Bank of Canada to counter high inflation in the country.
More recently, the Bank of Canada has cut its key lending rate twice, taking it down to 4.5 per cent from five per cent. But the full fallout of higher interest rates on the broader economy has yet to be felt, especially in the housing market, with consumer spending low for many cash-strapped Canadians.
Analysts believe the Canadian central bank is likely to cut its interest rate once more in September, as worries about a slowing economy overtaking inflation concerns.
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