Canada's London Sees Jobs Growth

London's economy gained more than 10,000 jobs during the last year, bucking Ontario and national trends, with manufacturing posting the biggest increase, new figures show.

The addition of 10,600 jobs gives London job growth of 4.4 per cent early this year over last, topping the 1.6-per-cent Ontario growth average during the same period.

"I am delighted to see this," London Chamber of Commerce general manager Gerry Macartney said of the Statistics Canada figures. "This is another arrow we can put in our quiver of success to show we are well armed."

Making the job figures more striking is that London lost 3,200 jobs during the previous year, with employment dropping to 240,000 in 2006 from 243,200 in 2005 -- a decline of 1.3 per cent.

London now has a jobless rate of 6.1 per cent, compared to 6.2 per cent for Ontario and 6.4 per cent nationally.

"London is not doing badly at all," said Vincent Ferrao, a labour force analyst with Statistics Canada. "The unemployment rate is lower than Ontario's rate."

The London-area job figures are based on a three-month average from November, December and January -- the only figures available this early in the year, said Ferrao.

"This is substantial growth," said Derek Burleton, economist with TD-Bank Financial Group in Toronto. "In London a weakness in any one area is being offset by strength in other areas."

While London gained 3,500 manufacturing jobs, Ontario lost 54,500 jobs during the same period and nationally 42,000 manufacturing jobs were lost.

Manufacturing has been shrinking in Ontario since 2002, added Ferrao, but not in London.

"We all know London has a diverse economy, but people don't know we have a diverse manufacturing sector as well," said Steve Glickman, director of retention and business growth with the London Economic Development Corp. "There have been a lot of initiatives in this city and a lot of them are bearing fruit."

The growth of 900 technology and research jobs is also significant, said Macartney.

"To me that spells out we have balance -- we are seeing it across the board, as opposed to in any one area. It bodes well," he said.

Burleton also credited the job growth on "macro-economic factors" from which London benefits, such as low interest rates, low inflation and the fact business cycles aren't as severe as they once were, meaning a drop in one sector won't necessarily spill into other areas.