Ontario calls on Bank of Canada to cut interest rates to protect jobs

Ontario calls on Bank of Canada to cut interest rates to protect jobs

Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, issued a statement yesterday following Statistics Canada’s release of employment numbers for October, showing the unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent had not budged from September.

See the breakdown below. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 8, 2024.

Unemployment rate: 6.5 per cent (6.5)

Employment rate: 60.6 per cent (60.7)

Participation rate: 64.8 per cent (64.9)

Number unemployed: 1,429,000 (1,428,100)

Number working: 20,596,900 (20,582,400)

Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 12.8 per cent (13.5)

Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 5.7 per cent (5.7)

Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 5.2 per cent (5.0)

Fedeli released the following statement: “Amid uncertain global economic conditions, our government continues to call on the Bank of Canada to keep cutting interest rates to protect jobs. While Ontario has seen nearly 200,000 jobs created this year alone, last month’s job numbers demonstrate that our ongoing economic recovery is fragile and that Ontario workers are counting on the Bank of Canada to lower rates to support job creation.

For our part, our government remains focused on keeping costs down for families and businesses, investing in skills development to connect Ontario workers with better jobs and bigger paycheques and fighting the costly federal carbon tax. As part of our plan, we’re investing an additional $100 million in our Invest Ontario Fund, to support the growth of emerging industries such as the tech, advanced manufacturing and life sciences sectors. Since its launch in 2020, Invest Ontario has helped attract $4.1 billion in investments, which are expected to create more than 4,000 jobs across the province.

Ontario also continues to work closely with our partners at all levels of government in the United States to build on our strong trading relationships and create new opportunities in areas including energy, electric vehicle manufacturing and critical mineral development. We will continue to leverage our network of trade and investment offices and relationships with officials and business leaders throughout the United States to strengthen economic ties and protect the millions of workers on both sides of the border whose jobs depend on open trade and economic co-operation between our two jurisdictions.”

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