London mayor promising more jobs

The London-St Thomas jobless rate went down in June.

It dropped to 9.2 per cent from 9.8 per cent in May, according to Statistics Canada.

But London Mayor Joe Fontana says it hasn't decreased enough and the director of an agency that works with the unemployed says don't bring out the champagne yet.

"I suppose we can hope this is a trend, but it's a little early to celebrate," says Anne Langille, executive director of  the non-profit WIL Employment Connections.

Nationally, the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.1 per cent last month as employers pulled back after a wild month of hiring in May.

Fontana is now topping his election promise goal of 10,000 jobs locally.

"I am not going to be satisfied until we get our numbers ... below the national average, which I think London can be and deserves to be," he says.

According to the London Economic Development Corporation, 1,200 skilled jobs are unfilled in the region because qualified workers can't be found.

A $100,000 local pilot project, which started last month, to match people with jobs, is not enough, Fontana says.

"If it means we need to enhance that program, I think that's where we are going to get the biggest bang for the buck in the shortest period of time."

Stats Can says the economy shed a mere 400 jobs in June.

But that was better than the 12,500 jobs economists had expected would be lost in the hangover from the hiring binge seen in May, when 95,000 new jobs were added.

With files from The Canadian Press