coronavirus pandemic pushed the London and St. Thomas-area unemployment rate to a record high in May, according to Statistics Canada.The unemployment rate rose to 11.7 per cent last month, eclipsing the previous high of 11 per cent set in August 2009 in nearly 20 years of comparable data going back to March 2001.It comes after the region’s unemployment rate hit 8.9 per cent in April, rising from 5.8 per cent in March, the same month the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic.Prior to the pandemic, the region’s unemployment rate sat at five per cent in January and 4.8 per cent in February.
Statistics Canada also reported the London-St. Thomas region shed around 11,000 jobs in May, and saw its participation rate fall again to 58.8.