London’s unemployment rate holds steady

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London’s employment numbers improved slightly last month.

According to stats Canada the jobless rate fell to 7 per cent in January, down from 7.1 per cent in December - the highest unemployment rate seen in London in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Canadian economy added 76,000 jobs last month and the national rate fell to 6.6 per cent.

Ontario’s rate rose slightly to 7.6 per cent

Across the board, Statistics Canada flagged the vulnerability of jobs in the automotive sector in it’s release of January’s numbers in the light of American tariff threats. Canadian automotive manufacturing jobs are highly integrated with American supply chains, and 68.3 per cent of jobs in the sector relying on US demand for Canadian exports.

Predominant regions that will be impacted by the fallout of incoming tariffs include the economic regions of Toronto (which accounted for 27.7 per cent of all auto workers), Kitchener–Waterloo–Barrie (19.8 per cent) and Windsor-Sarnia (14.8 per cent).