The Greater Toronto Area's unemployment rate has held relatively steady even as the provincial and national rates crept slightly upwards.

The unemployment rate for the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area -- roughly equivalent to the GTA, a Statistics Canada official told ctvtoronto.ca -- in October was 6.8 per cent, down slightly from 6.9 per cent in September. In January, the rate was estimated to be 6.7 per cent.

The actual number of people employed rose by 3,200 from September to October.

Statistics Canada cautioned on Friday that its city-level statistics are based on three-month moving averages and that wide fluctuations are possible because of small sample sizes.

Here are the unemployment rates for some select Ontario cities (September rate in brackets):

  • Hamilton - 5.7 per cent (5.5)
  • Kitchener - 5.3 (5.3)
  • London - 6.8 (6.9)
  • Oshawa - 7.2 (6.7)
  • St. Catharines-Niagara - 7.7 (7.0)
  • Windsor - 10.1 (9.9)

Ontario's unemployment rate was measured to be 6.5 per cent in October, up 0.1 point over September's rate -- but also about the same as the beginning of 2008, said Statistics Canada. The actual number of jobs dropped by 3,200 in that one-month period.

In comparison, Alberta's unemployment rate was 3.7 per cent in October.

"Although Ontario's employment was unchanged in October, so far this year, it is up 1.5 per cent (+101,000), slightly above the national growth rate of 1.2 per cent," Statistics Canada wrote in a commentary.

"Gains over the first 10 months of the year were in transportation and warehousing; construction; and public administration. Manufacturing is down 14,000 so far in 2008, compared with a decline of 43,000 over the same period of 2007. "

The national unemployment rate in October was 6.2 per cent, also an increase of 0.1 point over September.

Economists had expected a drop of 10,000 jobs in October, but there was a net increase of 9,500 jobs -- something largely attributed to hiring by the government because of the federal election.

However, the Statistics Canada report also noted this: "Employment in accommodation and food services declined by 27,000, mostly in food services and drinking places. The bulk of these losses were in Ontario and Quebec."

Scotia Capital economist Derek Holt noted the private sector lost 20,000 jobs across Canada last month.

"So far this year, Canadian employment has behaved in a typical pre-recession manner. We think Canada is now verging upon a negative trend in lost jobs going into 2009," Holt said.

But Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, said the numbers show Canada's jobs picture is holding up as well as can be expected considering the global financial turmoil.

"If there was any lingering doubt that Canada's economy is faring better than the U.S. -- so far -- this two-month performance should quash it," he said.

With files from The Canadian Press