(Photo: File)
The number of jobs in Canada fell by 88,000 in January to give the labour market its steepest one-month drop in nine years.
The net decline helped push the national unemployment rate up to 5.9% in January, from a revised 5.8% the previous month.
Statistics Canada reports that while the economy shed 137,000 part-time positions — that category’s largest collapse on record — the number of full-time jobs increased by 49,000.
In the Kingston/Pembroke Region, which includes municipalities in the Bay of Quinte area, the jobless rate is up slightly, to 4.4%, from 4% even in January of last year, but still below the national average.
StatsCan numbers also show a nearly 6% drop in the employment rate, to 52.8%.
