The city's unemployment rate stood at 7.9 per cent in February, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers.
That's up form 5.8 per cent for the same month last year. The increase was driven largely by the greater number of people looking for employment which stood at 4,000 last month, up by 1,100.
Concurrently, those of working age not seeking work stood at 21,600, compared to 22,300 in February 2016.
The number of people holding down jobs last month was 46,600, down by 200.
The participation rate last month was 70.1 per cent, up from 69 per cent, and the employment rate was 64.5 per cent, down from 65 per cent.
In January, the unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent with 46,700 working, 4,100 seeking work and 21,400 not participating. The participation rate was 70.4 per cent and the employment rate was 64.7 per cent.
The numbers are based on a three-month rolling average and do not separate part-time from full-time employment.
The latest unemployment figure is accurate to within 1.2 percentage points, 68 per cent of the time.
