Windsor has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 16.7 per cent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the latest figures from Stats Canada, Windsor's rate is up from 12.9 per cent in April 2020.
Stats Canada reports a record-high unemployment rate in Canada as the economy added 290,000 jobs in May, with businesses reopening amid easing public health restrictions.
Workforce Windsor-Essex CEO Justin Falconer says some sectors have been hit harder than others such as the food, accommodations, information, culture and recreation sector, which saw double digit drops in their employment rates.
"Accommodation and food services is down 37.3 per cent since February so there has been some big impact on workers and businesses in those sectors," says Falconer.
He says the numbers rate may actually get worse, before getting better.
"The unemployment rate is a three month moving average,” he says. “So we are finally seeing the full effects of what has been happening to the world's economy in the last three months so it is no surprise that Windsor is reeling from those effects."
Falconer does expect things to turn around, but admits it may take some time for the numbers to reflect that.
"Optimistically today that things are starting to get better, we are seeing truck traffic increase down Huron Church, manufacturing is hiring again," he says.
The national unemployment rate rose to 13.7 per cent, topping the previous high of 13.1 per cent set in December 1982 in more than four decades of comparable data.
— With files from AM800's Paul McDonald