Canada's unemployment rate rises to record high in August

OTTAWA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Canada's unemployment rate rose to 7.1 percent in August, the highest since May 2016, said Statistics Canada on Friday.

Since January, the country's unemployment rate has increased 0.5 percentage points. In contrast, the rate averaged 6 percent from 2017 to 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, said the national statistical agency.