Unemployment increased to 7.2 per cent in September from 6.8 per cent in August, but stood much higher than job-seekers last year, who were at 5.3 per cent.
Nationally, unemployment hovered at 8 per cent, but more jobs (6,600) were lost – figures attributed to fewer youth seeking work. Statistics Canada said it did not have that sort of information available for local markets.
"(Unmployment) slowly increased until about February, and then it flattened for a while, and now it's crept up over the past three months," said Jason Gilmore, a labour analyst with Statistics Canada.
"In terms of industry overall, employment has declined 3,500 month to month, but year over year employment has gone up by 6,000 with a number of increases and decreases (in different industries)."
For motorists this summer who watched lineups mount on Riverside Drive or bus riders who had to deal with temporary bus stops on the Transitway Albert and Slater streets downtown, it was perhaps no surprise that construction jobs increased 7,900 year-over-year.
Manufacturing fell by 10,000 jobs, information culture and recreation increased by 8,200, food services increased by 6,300.
Mirroring national trends, professional and scientific jobs decreased by 5,200 and finance, insurance and real estate, and leasing fell by 4,200.
By city, Gatineau unemployment increased from 6.8 per cent in August to 7 per cent in September. Year-over-year, unemployment was up 1.1 percentage points from 5.9 per cent.
In Ottawa, unemployment similarly stood at 7.2 per cent in September, up from 6.8 in August and 5.2 in 2009.
