Slight rise in PEI’s unemployment rate. Canada’s rate held steady.

A rise in PEI’s unemployment rate in July to 8.9 percent from June’s 8-percent.  Nationally, Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 per cent in July, and the economy shed a modest 28-hundred jobs. The agency’s latest report shows that students who have been hunting for a summer job and recent immigrants looking for work have felt the brunt of the country’s weakening labour market.  One senior economist at hiring website Indeed says those two groups have been disproportionately affected because employers are hiring fewer workers, rather than laying employees off.