Duguid reacts to Ont job stats

Some mixed results in Ontario’s October job stats.

Canada’s job creation slowed down to a crawl last month. According to Statistics Canada the country’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.4 percent and 1,800 jobs were created.

The modest result was slightly worse than expected by economists and reversed two consecutive months of strong employment gains that saw over 86,000 jobs added. Quebec reported the strongest increase at just over 20,000 jobs, and B.C. had the biggest setback with a loss of almost 11,000 jobs.

Ontario economic development minister Brad Duguid says the news wasn’t all bad for his province.

“With full-time jobs being up and part-time jobs being down, I think the best way to do describe October’s result would be to say that they’re mixed. There is some reason for optimism, with the fact that we have 29,900 new full time jobs but the fact that the part-time jobs are down would lead me to describe October’s results as mixed.”

Video: Sharon McCulloch reports: