LONDON, ONT -- The unemployment rate in London continued to rise in June as the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt, even though nationally the rate has begun to fall.

London’s unemployment rate now sits at 12.6 per cent, in May it was at 11.7 per cent.

London’s rate is pretty much on par with the national rate which now sits at 12.3 per cent after reaching a record high in May.

According to Statistics Canada roughly 5.5 million workers were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown between February and April.

By June that number of workers affected has improved to 3.1 million.

In May there was an initial recovery of 290,000 job gains, in June the economy has seen nearly one million jobs return.

The gains are evenly split between full-time work and part-time work.

Statistics Canada noted that the increase in labour force participation was not equal in men and women, with men seeing greater gains in the participation rate.