London's jobless rate jumps 3% to nearly 9% in April

Jobless numbers released by Statistics Canada today showLondon's unemployment rate jumped to8.9 per cent in April, up from 5.8 per cent in March as the local and national economy suffers the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

London is still doing well compared to a national unemployment rate of 13 per cent and an Ontario jobless rate of 11.3 per cent.

Here is a list of April jobless rates in select southern Ontario cities, with rates for the previous monthin brackets:

• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 7.8 (6.0)
• Windsor 12.9 (10.5)
• Hamilton7.5 (5.7)
• Brantford 9.4 (5.9)
• Guelph (5.3)
• Toronto 7.9 (6.0)

Canadalost almost two million jobs during the month of April, a record high, as the closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 has devastated the economy and forced businesses to shutter temporarily.

Since comparable data became available in 1976, the April unemployment rate was second-highest only to December 1982, when it reached 13.1 per cent.

Job fair going 'virtual'

Kapil Lakhotia, CEO of the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), said the sharp drop in jobs isn't a surprise given the number of businesses shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Everyone expected a negative impact in the labour market due to COIVD-19," he said. "But such a bigincrease month-to-month is still quite a shock to process and absorb."

Lakhotia said many of the jobs lost were insectors such as tourism, retail, hospitality and tourism. That makes this recession different from the one that started in 2008.

"Unlike other downturns, the manufacturing industries have not been as hard hit," he said. "In fact, in the past month, many food processing industries have grown and are looking to hire more people."

The LEDC is hosting its annual job fair on May 12 from 2 to 6 p.m., but this timeinstead of having it at the Western Fair District it will be a virtual event to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. The event typically attracts 1,500 people.

"This is our first time trying this format, no one really knows how it will work out but we wanted to give it a try," said Lakhotia.

LEDC's fall job fair, set for Sept. 22, is for now still planned as a face-to-facejob event.

Details about May's job fair can be found here.