Jobless rate plunges to 6.7 per cent

Even with the province entering into its third stay-at-home lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peterborough managed to post a second month of stunning job gains in April and now has an unemployment rate that’s lower than the provincial and national averages. Peterborough gained 2,800 jobs in April, on top of 2,600 new jobs in March, resulting in a jobless rate of 6.7 per cent, down from 9.4 per cent in March, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The national jobless rate rose to 8.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent in March while Ontario’s rate climbed to 9 per cent in April from 7.5 per cent a month earlier. There were 62,600 people in the Peterborough census metropolitan area employed in April, up from 59,800 in March. That’s up 9,200 from a year ago when the economy was disrupted by the pandemic and the first lockdown. The labour force grew by 1,600 people to 67,200, resulting in 4,500 people who could not find work, down from 6,200 in March.