Ontario's unemployment reaches highest point in more than a decade, apart from COVID

Ontario's unemployment rate ticked up again last month, according to Statistics Canada, reaching its highest level in more than a decade, with the exception of the initial economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest Labour Force Survey data shows unemployment in Ontario hit 7.8 per cent in April, up 0.3 percentage points from March and marking three consecutive months of overall job losses in the province.

Outside of the initial months of the pandemic, when unemployment peaked at 14.2 per cent in May 2020, last month's unemployment figure is the highest in Ontario since October 2013. Only Newfoundland and Labrador had a higher unemployment rate, at 9.6 per cent.

The latest data also shows that in three out of the first four months of 2025, the province's unemployment rate was above the long-term moving average of 7.37 per cent.

Moreover, the unemployment rate in Ontario has now exceeded seven per cent for eight consecutive months. Apart from the worst of the pandemic, the last time that happened in this province was 2014 under former premier Kathleen Wynne.

The overwhelming majority of the 35,000 total jobs lost were in the manufacturing sector, Statistics Canada says. Ontario lost more manufacturing jobs last month than any other province in Canada.

In the Windsor area — the province's auto manufacturing heartland and a region that has already been shaken by U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing global trade war — the unemployment rate increased 1.4 percentage points, up to 10.7 per cent. 

Wholesale and retail trade in Ontario also saw a notable decline in jobs, Statistics Canada says.

The latest Labour Force Survey results suggest, as CBC Toronto reported earlier this week, a struggling provincial economy that was showing signs of fragility even before Trump's tariffs began to bite.

Other indicators include:

Meanwhile, the province's independent Financial Accountability Office predicted last week that further U.S. tariffs and Canada's retaliation could result in some 119,000 fewer jobs in Ontario by next year, pushing unemployment upward by another 1.1 percentage points. 

The numbers come as Premier Doug Ford is set to table his annual budget next Thursday. 

The big-ticket tariff response measures announced so far include a six-month deferral of about $9 billion in provincially administered business taxes and rebating $2 billion of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board premiums to employers. 

The Ford government has also tabled legislation to cut down interprovincial trade barriers and speed up approvals of mines and other resource projects.