An uptick in Windsor's unemployment rate.
It rose to 9.1% in January, up from 8.9% in December.
Nationally the jobless rate fell slightly to 6.6%, down from 6.7% as the economy added a net 76,000 jobs, down from a revised 91,000 jobs added in December.
It’s the second consecutive monthly decline, following a recent peak in November of 6.9 per cent.
Economists polled by Reuters expected about a third of that job growth, and for the unemployment rate instead to rise slightly.
The manufacturing sector carried the largest employment gains, adding 33,000 jobs — a third of those in Ontario alone. Though the sector’s gains were little changed year-over-year, adding 28,000 jobs since January 2024.
Statistics Canada highlighted the manufacturing sector in its monthly report, saying nearly 40 per cent of the 1.9 million manufacturing jobs depend on U.S. demand for Canadian exports.
In the automotive sector, nearly 70 per cent of manufacturing jobs depend on U.S. demand.
The relevance of the figures comes amid economic tensions between the two countries, where U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on all imported Canadian goods.
Trump paused his tariff plan for a month on Monday, following commitments from Canada to designate cartels as terrorist entities, and appoint a “fentanyl czar” to act as a liaison between the two countries, among other commitments.
Meanwhile, across all sectors, full-time employment rose by 35,000 in January, with another 40,900 part-time jobs.
The public sector lost 8,400 jobs in the month, however, and wage growth continued to decelerate in January, the report said.
Hourly wages increased at a rate of 3.5 per cent year-over-year in January, down from four per cent growth in December.
The youth unemployment rate, for those between 15 and 24-years old, fell to 13.6% in January from 14.2% the month before.
--With files from AM800's Kathie McMann