Unemployment was down in the North Bay area last month

A big annual drop in unemployment in the North Bay area.

Stats Canada says the jobless figure last month was 5 percent.

That’s a drop of 3.2 percent from March 2014.

Meantime, the employment rate was at 51.4 percent in March. That’s down from 54.8 percent in March 2014.

The figures include the City of North Bay, Callander, East Ferris and Bonfield.

Nationally, unemployment was 7.1 percent in March, down from 7.3 percent the month before.

Stats Canada says the economy created 40,600 new jobs across the country.