Greater Sudbury added about 700 jobs in April, Statistics Canada reported Friday, pushing down the city's unemployment rate to 5.4 per cent.
That's the lowest since August 2008, when the rate sat at 5.1 per cent, and nearly matches the lowest ever in the city's short 19-year history: 4.7 per cent reported in July 2008.
According to StatsCan's monthly labour survey, 87,300 people had jobs in April, out of a workforce of 92,300. That compare to the 86,600 jobs reported in March, out of a workforce of 92,000. The margin of error means unemployment could be as high as six per cent, or as low as 4.8 per cent.
At the same time last year, the jobless rate was 7.2 per cent, out of workforce of 86,400. Between April 2018 and April 2019, Greater Sudbury added 7,100 net jobs.
Employment in Ontario rose by 47,000 in April, primarily due to gains in part-time work among people aged 15 to 24. Youth employment in the province has been trending upward since the beginning of 2019, StatsCan said.
The unemployment rate was little changed in April at six per cent, as more people participated in the labour market. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment grew by 205,000 or 2.8 per cent.
Nationally, the jobs picture brightened in April, with its biggest one-month employment surge since 1976, when the government started collecting comparable data.
The country added 106,500 net jobs last month, and the bulk of them were full time. The unexpected increase helped drop the unemployment rate to 5.7 per cent last month, from 5.8 per cent in March.
The labour market has seen strong employment numbers since mid-2016 and has remained a bright spot for an economy that has struggled in other areas — to the point it almost stalled over the winter.
Employment grew 0.6 per cent with the April increase — the highest proportional monthly expansion since 1994.
– Files from Canadian Press
