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Belleville posted the biggest jump with its unemployment rate nearly doubling from 1.8 per cent to 3.3 per cent. The Ontario city’s rate, however, is the lowest.

Guelph also gained almost a full percentage point rising from 6 to 6.9 per cent, as did Regina, where the jobless rate climbed to 6.6 per cent.

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Trois-Rivieres, Que. lead the country with the biggest drop in the unemployment rate, shedding a full percentage point to 5.3 per cent in December. Brantford, Ont.’s fell 0.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent, as did Edmonton’s, dropping to 7.4 per cent.

Windsor, Ont., had the highest unemployment rate among cities at 9.1 per cent; that’s up from 8.7 per cent in November. Toronto’s jobless rate rose to 8.4 per cent and Oshawa’s to 7.9 per cent.

Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Kingston, Barrie, Greater Sudbury and Abbotsford-Mission all saw neither job loses nor gains, with figures holding stable from November to December.

Across the country, the Maritime provinces saw the largest increases in jobless rates, with New Brunswick posting the biggest jump, up 0.9 per cent to 7.8 per cent. Prince Edward Island’s unemployment rate rose from eight per cent to 8.5 per cent, and Nova Scotia posted the smallest increase of the Atlantic Provinces, up just 0.2 per cent, to 6.3 per cent.

Here are the unemployment rates in Canada’s cities in December, according to Statistics Canada. The rate from the previous month is in brackets. The agency cautions that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples.

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• St. John’s, N.L. 6.8 per cent (6.7)
• Halifax 5.1 per cent (5.1)
• Moncton, N.B. 5.8 per cent (5.2)
• Saint John, N.B. 5.9 per cent (5.2)
• Saguenay, Que. 4.0 per cent (3.9)
• Quebec City 4.5 per cent (4.5)
• Sherbrooke, Que. 5.2 per cent (5.3)
• Trois-Rivieres, Que. 5.3 per cent (6.3)
• Montreal 6.7 per cent (6.7)
• Gatineau, Que. 5.9 per cent (6.4)
• Ottawa 5.9 per cent (6.1)
• Kingston, Ont. 5.6 per cent (5.6)
• Belleville, Ont. 3.3 per cent (1.8)
• Peterborough, Ont. 5.3 per cent (4.3)
• Oshawa, Ont. 7.9 per cent (7.8)
• Toronto 8.4 per cent (8.1)
• Hamilton, Ont. 7.3 per cent (6.8)
• St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 6.5 per cent (6.7)
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 7.6 per cent (7.7)
• Brantford, Ont. 4.8 per cent (5.7)
• Guelph, Ont. 6.9 per cent (6.0)
• London, Ont. 7.0 per cent (6.5)
• Windsor, Ont. 9.1 per cent (8.7)
• Barrie, Ont. 5.8 per cent (5.8)
• Greater Sudbury, Ont. 5.5 per cent (5.5)
• Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.4 per cent (5.3)
• Winnipeg 6.2 per cent (5.9)
• Regina 6.6 per cent (5.7)
• Saskatoon 4.8 per cent (5.2)
• Lethbridge, Alta. 5.5 per cent (5.7)
• Calgary 7.8 per cent (7.9)
• Edmonton 7.4 per cent (8.3)
• Kelowna, B.C. 5.0 per cent (4.7)
• Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 5.7 per cent (5.7)
• Vancouver 6.3 per cent (6.4)
• Victoria 3.6 per cent (3.7)

With files from The Canadian Press

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