P.E.I. unemployment rate climbs back up to 11%

P.E.I.'s unemployment rose to 11 per cent in June, the fourth time in five months that it's been 11 per cent or higher.

The rate was 10.4 per cent in May.

The bad stretch comes after a relatively strong finish to 2015. From September to January there was only one month where the rate rose above 10 per cent.

The increasing unemployment rate comes in spite of fewer people looking for jobs. On average, there were almost 2,000 fewer jobs in the Island economy in the last five months than from September to January.

In March and April there were just 71,100 jobs on the Island, the lowest number since February 2011.

Nationally, job numbers were largely unchanged from May to June.

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