Outside of COVID shock, Ontario's unemployment is now at its highest since late 2013

Ontario's unemployment rate ticked up again last month, according to Statistics Canada, reaching its highest level in more than a decade, with the exception of the initial economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest Labour Force Survey data shows unemployment in Ontario hit 7.8 per cent in April, up 0.3 percentage points from March and marking three consecutive months of overall job losses in the province.

Outside of the initial months of the pandemic, when unemployment peaked at 14.2 per cent in May 2020, last month's unemployment figure is the highest in Ontario since October 2013. Only Newfoundland and Labrador had a higher unemployment rate, at 9.6 per cent.

The latest data also shows that in three out of the first four months of 2025, the province's unemployment rate was above the long-term moving average of 7.37 per cent.

Moreover, the unemployment rate in Ontario has now exceeded seven per cent for nine consecutive months. Apart from the worst of the pandemic, the last time that happened in this province was 2014 under former premier Kathleen Wynne.

The overwhelming majority of the 35,000 total jobs lost were in the manufacturing sector, Statistics Canada says. Ontario lost more manufacturing jobs last month than any other province in Canada.

In the Windsor area — the province's auto manufacturing heartland and a region that has already been shaken by U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing global trade war — the unemployment rate increased 1.4 percentage points, up to 10.7 per cent. 

A spokesperson for Victor Fedeli, the minister of economic development, job creation and trade, said in a statement that the government is taking action to withstand the impact of tariffs on the economy. 

"Businesses have created nearly one million new jobs in Ontario since we took office, and our government will do whatever it takes to keep Ontario the best destination for businesses looking to invest and expand," spokesperson Jennifer Cunliffe said. 

Marit Stiles, leader of the Official Opposition, criticized Premier Doug Ford for his handling of the issue.

"If this is not a wake-up call for Premier Ford, I don't know what is," Stiles said in an NDP news release on Friday. "What will it take for the Premier to abandon his wait-and-see approach and take real action to keep people working?" 

Wholesale and retail also saw losses: StatsCan

Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky called out the premier over the unemployment rate increase.

"Thousands of people in Windsor are losing their jobs," Gretzky said in the same NDP release. "Where is the urgency from this Premier? We cannot sit by and watch good paying jobs leave because of Trump's unjustifiable tariffs." 

Wholesale and retail trade in Ontario also saw a notable decline in jobs, Statistics Canada says.

The latest Labour Force Survey results suggest, as CBC Toronto reported earlier this week, a struggling provincial economy that was showing signs of fragility even before Trump's tariffs began to bite.

Other indicators include:

• Ontario's real GDP grew by just 1.2 per cent in 2024, Statistics Canada reported. The only provincial economy that grew more slowly last year was Manitoba's.
• Only 15 per cent of businesses felt confident in the province's economy in February, down from 26 per cent in December, according to a survey for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
• Back in the fall, the 2025 economic growth forecasts for Ontario averaged 1.8 per cent. The big banks have now slashed those forecasts, with TD predicting real GDP growth of one per cent, RBC forecasting 1.2 per cent and Scotiabank expecting 1.3 per cent growth.

Meanwhile, the province's independent Financial Accountability Office predicted last week that further U.S. tariffs and Canada's retaliation could result in some 119,000 fewer jobs in Ontario by next year, pushing unemployment upward by another 1.1 percentage points. 

The numbers come as Ford is set to table his annual budget next Thursday. 

The big-ticket tariff response measures announced so far include a six-month deferral of about $9 billion in provincially administered business taxes and rebating $2 billion of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board premiums to employers. 

The Ford government has also tabled legislation to cut down interprovincial trade barriers and speed up approvals of mines and other resource projects.