In August, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region, which includes the Municipality of Meaford, increased by 0.8 percentage points to 4.9%. The Region sits at the second lowest unemployment rate in the province, behind Northwest Ontario. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points this month to 8.3%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In August, the Region’s overall population aged 15+ increased by +300 whereas the labour force size dropped by 1,300 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to increase by 1,600.
This dragged the Region’s participation rate down by 0.5 percentage points to 58.2%. The Region experienced a decrease of 2,600 people in overall employment, and saw an approximately +200 full-time employment gains whereas about 2,800 losses in part-time employment were recorded in the Region.
The Goods-producing sector saw an increase in overall employment numbers in August (+2,500, +3.8%), with the biggest gain in Construction (+4,600, +27.2%), followed by Manufacturing (+800, +3.1%). On the other hand, Utilities experienced an employment decrease in three consecutive months (-2,500, -17.1%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw a decrease of -5.2% (-5,100 people) in August. With – 1,800 drop in employment, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-23.1%), followed by Educational Services (-1,100, -18.0%) and Public administration (-900, -16.4%). Wholesale and retail trade also experienced -12.3% employment losses (-2,700 people). On the other hand, Business, building and other support services experienced the biggest percentage growth in employment in August (+500, +18.5%), followed by Information, culture and recreation (+600, +12.5%), and Other services (except public administration) (+900, +12.5%). Professional, scientific and technical services (+300, +2.3%) also saw employment gains. Employment remained unchanged in the Health care and social assistance sector.
“Our rate is in line with both seasonal norms and the provincial trends this month,” said Dana Soucie, Executive Director for the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “The numbers show positive signs that our region is weathering the economic changes at this time and we will follow the sectors that show concerns as we move forward.”
Current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased over time since the pandemic and can be found at www.connect2JOBS.ca. The current number of job postings currently exceeds 1,600.
