Windsor's unemployment rate is no longer highest in the country

A Welcome to Windsor sign is seen in this file photo in Windsor, Ont. (Melanie Borrelli / CTV Windsor)

Windsor, Ont. -

After months of having the highest unemployment rate in Canada, Windsor has moved out of the top spot.

Statistics Canada says the jobless rate in the region was 8.1 per cent in November, compared to 9.2 per cent in October.

Windsor is now tied for the fourth-highest rate in the country.

Workforce WindorEssex says they are noticing a difference in the last month.

“We are seeing a lot of hiring the last month or so. Our main sectors for hiring are manufacturing, retail, food services and health care,” says Workforce WindorEssex manager of projects and research Tashlyn Teskey.

Teskey says participation rate is also currently improving.

“We’re close to 63 per cent which is five percent higher than were we were last year and much higher than we were two years ago. So we’re seeing board more people entering the labour force, willing to become employed and also attaining employment in the long run.”

Saint John, N.B. (8.5) has the highest unemployment rate, followed by Peterborough, Ont. (8.4), Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. (8.2) and Calgary (8.1).

On a national level, Stats Can says the economy added 154,000 jobs in November as the labour market showed more signs it's returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The national unemployment rate fell to 6.0 per cent last month compared with 6.7 per cent in October.

That brought the headline rate to within 0.3 percentage points of the 5.7 per cent recorded in February 2020 just before the pandemic struck.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 7.8 per cent in November had it included in calculations Canadians who wanted to work but didn't search for a job, down from 8.7 per cent in October.

Statistics Canada also says that the number of long-term unemployed fell by 62,000, marking the first monthly drop since August.

The agency says the decline in long-term unemployed was particularly sharp for Canadians who had been out of work for a year or more.

With files from CTV Windsor's Sijia Liu and The Canadian Press in a report first published on Dec. 3, 2021.