jobs ontario

Ontario city has worst unemployment rate in Canada and Toronto's isn't much better

Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent last month, with alarming spikes in the number of people out of a job in almost every major city in the country.

Per StatCan's new Labour Force Survey, Toronto's figure remains among the worst nationwide, at 8 per cent — higher than the 7.8 per cent the market saw earlier in the summer, a rate that was already drawing concern.

Though this is just a small increase over the last few months, it is nonetheless in the wrong direction, and is a huge leap from last year. This makes us the third-worst place for jobs out of all metropolitan areas in the country.

But, even in this dire rank, we could consider ourselves lucky compared to another nearby Ontario city: Windsor, which boasts the unfortunate title of having the largest rate of unemployment in Canada.

Windsor's unemployment rate sits at a worrisome 9.8 per cent as of last month. It also experienced the largest year-over-year increase in this number, up from 6.6 per cent in August 2023.

Ontario, meanwhile, is now in fourth as far as provinces and territories with the worst employment crises, with a 7.1 per cent average unemployment rate, behind Nunavut's 11.1 per cent, Newfoundland and Labrador's 10.4 per cent, P.E.I.'s 8.2 per cent and Alberta's 7.7 per cent.

The proportion of youth specifically who have been unsuccessful at finding work in Canada's most populous province is among the most daunting data points of all.

Per StatCan, a whopping 17.5 per cent of youth aged 15 to 24 in the province are jobless — the worst it's been since the 2009 financial crisis — compared to a rate of 14.5 across Canada overall. 

Lead photo by

Randy Gauthier/Shutterstock


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