Brantford-Brant’s distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in Ontario is being called “alarming.”

The local jobless rate for October stands at 9.9 per cent — a number that hasn’t been seen since the pandemic – up 0.2 per cent from September, according to Statistics Canada’s seasonally adjusted estimates based on a three-month moving average.

“It’s been alarming to see so many of our residents – our friends and neighbours – become unemployed,” Danette Dalton, executive director at the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie, said in a media release. “Figures we’re seeing now, with an estimated 9,800 people unemployed and a jobless rate of almost 10 per cent, flashes back to the summer of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic created lots of job losses.

“Like then, our community is go

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