Windsor unemployment rate down to 9.3%, but tops in Canada

Windsor's unemployment fell to 9.3 per cent in January, down from 9.7 in December.

But one Windsor employment counsellor says don't be fooled by the numbers.

"We try to focus in on the positive because it's so negative not having a job and struggling in Windsor," says Andrea Ducharmeat the Unemployed Help Centre."But the truth is that we need more help, we need everybody as an infrastructure to get together and come up with a plan how to make this city a better city."

Friday morning, Norman Durettewas seen wheeling around a fridge. He's beenwithout a job for five years.

"I go in the alleys and stuff and pick up things that people throw away and put it in a shopping cart and then I come and sell it over here and they give me money for it," he said.

Durette and his friend make two to threetrips dailyto the Windsor Electronic Depot on Windsor Ave., earningabout $20 to $30 each time.

"I live on a [fixed]income so sometimes you know you can't spend too much because if you do you get short on money by the end of the month so then you gotta find something to do."

Windsor's jobless rate is still highest among large Canadian cities.

Nationally, the jobless rate edged up from 7.1 to 7.2 per cent.