The city's unemployment rate stood at 5.7 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers issued Friday, up from 4.5 per cent for the same month last year.
However, at 46,400, there were 100 more people holding down jobs than there were in March 2015.
The rise in the unemployment rate is due in part to an 700-person increase in the number of people of working age in the city, which stood at 49,200 last month.
As well, the number of unemployed seeking work added up to 2,800, or 600 more, while 22,800 people of working age were not seeking employment last month, or 500 more than for the same month last year.
Month-over-month, the unemployment rate declined from 5.8 per cent in February, when there were 46,800 people working, 2,900 seeking work and 22,300 not participating. As well, there were 49,700 people of working age in the city.
The numbers are based on a three-month rolling average and do not separate full-time from part-time employment.
The most recent estimate for the unemployment rate is accurate to within plus or minus one percentage point 68 per cent of the time.
