In July, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region, which includes the Municipality of Meaford, decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.1%. Along with Northwest Ontario, the Region sits at the lowest unemployment rate in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points this month to 8.0%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In July, the Region’s overall population increased by +200 whereas the labour force size dropped by 2,800 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to increase by 3,000. This dragged the Region’s participation rate down by 1 percentage point to 58.7%. The Region experienced a decrease of 2,400 people in overall employment. We saw an approximately +1,000 full-time employment gain whereas about 3,400 losses in part-time employment were recorded in the Region.
The Goods-producing sector saw a slight increase in overall employment numbers in July (+700, +1.1%), with the biggest gain in Manufacturing (+1,500, +6.2%), followed by Agriculture (+400, +4.8%). On the other hand, Utilities experienced an employment decrease in two consecutive months (-1,200, -7.6%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw a decrease of -3.1% (-3,100 people) last month. With -800 drop in employment, Business, building and other support services experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-22.9%), followed by Education Services (-1,100, -15.3%) and Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-1,100, -12.4%). Accommodation and food services also experienced -11.3% employment losses (-900 people). On the other hand, Professional, scientific and technical services experienced the biggest percentage growth in employment in July (+1,900, +16.8%), followed closely by Transportation and warehousing (+400, +12.5%), and Information, culture and recreation (+500, +11.6%). Other services (except public administration) (+700, +10.8%) and Public administration (+500, +11.1%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (+500, +10%) also saw employment gains.
“Our rate remains steady at the lowest unemployment rate in Ontario this month,” said Dana Soucie, Executive Director for the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “When looking at various indicators especially our participation rate, actively engaging in Retention and Attraction strategies is extremely important for our region. With the current economic uncertainties, we will likely continue to see constant changes.”
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 1,300.
