Peterborough was tied for the third highest employment rate of Canada's census metropolitan areas in December, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The Peterborough jobless rate jumped to 7.5 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent in November.

That tied with Windsor. Edmonton had the highest rate at 8 per cent and Saint John, N.B. was at 7.8 per cent.

The national unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent in December, with Ontario's falling to 5.3 per cent from 5.6 per cent.

Peterborough lost 1,400 jobs compared to November and there were 10,800 fewer people working than in December 2018 (only Edmonton had a higher loss of jobs over the year at 11,100).

Peterborough's labour force also shrunk over the year to 61,700, from 71,600 a year ago, with 57,200 employed compared to 68,000 a year ago.

The figures are for the Peterborough census metropolitan area, which includes the city, the four surrounding townships of Cavan Monaghan, Selwyn, Douro-Dummer and Otonabee-South Monaghan, along with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.

Statistics Canada jobless figures are based on surveys adjusted to a three-month rolling average. Because of its size, Peterborough has a smaller sample size than the other cities, which Statistics Canada warns can cause variability in the sampling.