Canada's Unemployment Rate Hits 26-Year High

December 5, 2008 4:39 p.m. EST

Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) - On the same day that the U.S. reported an unprecedented 35-year high unemployment rate of 6.7 percent, a similar story was reported by Ottawa on a smaller scale. Statistics Canada said 71,000 workers lost their jobs in November, bringing the country's unemployment rate to 6.3 percent, which is a 26-year high.

The 71,000 lost jobs is thrice expectations and is the largest monthly loss since 1982. The previous forecast of economists placed the figure at only 25,000.

The large number of unemployed Canadians prompted economists at Scotia Capital to declare, "Deteriorating global job markets have arrived on Canada's doorstep... The country is no longer bucking the general trend of lost jobs in most major economies."

The figures are expected to even grow in the coming months after AbitibiBowater announced on Thursday it will shutter its mill in Newfoundland while General Motors will temporarily lay off 700 employees from its Oshawa facility in February.

Because a large number of manufacturing plants are located in Ontario, the province was the hardest hit by the job losses with 66,000 Ontarians becoming jobless in November.