LONDON, ONT -- The unemployment rate in Windsor dropped in June as the economy slowly began to reopen across the region.

Windsor’s unemployment rate dropped to 15.2 per cent from 16.7 per cent.

While the number remains historically high it follows a national trend of rates dropping as people begin to return to work.

The Windsor-Essex region has been plagued by ongoing cases of COVID-19, largely in the agricultural sector, which has slowed reopening.

The national rate now sits at 12.3 per cent after reaching a record high in May.

According to Statistics Canada roughly 5.5 million workers were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown between February and April.

By June that number of workers affected has improved to 3.1 million.

In May there was an initial recovery of 290,000 job gains, in June the economy has seen nearly one million jobs return.

The gains are evenly split between full-time work and part-time work.

Statistics Canada noted that the increase in labour force participation was not equal in men and women, with men seeing greater gains in the participation rate.