Employment and unemployment figures both down in the area

Stats Canada has released the latest employment figures for the North Bay area.

Employment was at 52.3 per cent last month. That’s a drop compared to November 2014 when the figure was 59.3.

But, unemployment also declined last month.

The jobless figure was 6.5 percent.

That compares to 7.4 percent in November 2014.

However, the difference is less than the standard error of 1.7 so it’s not deemed statistically significant.

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

Stats Canada says nearly 31,000 people were active in the labour force last month. That’s down from just over 35,000 a year ago.

Nationally, unemployment was 7.1 percent in November.