Employment and unemployment both up locally in September

Unemployment was up in the North Bay area last month.

Stats Canada reports the jobless figure was 6.4 per cent in September.

That’s up from 5.1 per cent a year ago.

The difference is just within the standard error of 1.4, so technically it’s deemed statistically insignificant.

Meantime, employment was up slightly, year over year, to 58.3.

It was 57.6 per cent in September 2016.

There were about 900 more people in the Labour Force this past September, compared to a year earlier.

The figures include The City of North Bay, Bonfield, Callander and East Ferris.