OTTAWA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Canada's unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage points to 6.8 percent in November, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The unemployment rate has trended up since April 2023, rising 1.7 percentage points over the period, the national statistical agency said.
According to the agency, the number of unemployed people, those looking for work or on temporary layoff, increased by 87,000, or 6.1 percent, in November, bringing the total number of unemployed persons to 1.5 million. On a year-over-year basis, the number of unemployed people was up by 276,000, or 22.2 percent.
In November, nearly half of unemployed people had not worked in the last year or had never worked, up from 39.5 percent in November 2023. In comparison, the share of unemployed people who had lost their job prior to being unemployed and the share who had voluntarily left their previous job were both down from a year earlier, the agency said.
The proportion of long-term unemployed people has increased along with the unemployment rate. Among unemployed persons, 21.7 percent had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more in November, up 5.9 percentage points from a year earlier, the agency added.
The labour force participation rate, the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who were employed or looking for work, increased by 0.3 percentage points to 65.1 percent in November, offsetting a cumulative decline of 0.3 percentage points in September and October. On a year-over-year basis, the participation rate was down by 0.5 percentage points, said Statistics Canada. ■