PEI’s unemployment rate rose to 10% in October

Statistics Canada says employment declined in P.E.I. by 1,100 in jobs in October. That decline, combined with an increase in the number of people on the Island searching for work, pushed PEI’s unemployment rate up 2.9 percentage points to 10 percent.  Nationally, Statistics Canada is reporting strong wage growth in Canada this past month.  Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching 35-dollars-and-76-cents.  Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent and employment rose by a modest 15-thousand jobs in October.