Walkerton, ON (August 7, 2020) – In July, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 1.0 percentage point to 8.6%. At the same time, the provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 12.8%.

Overall net employment in the region increased by 400, with full-time gains (+1,400) offset by part-time losses (-1,100).

The number of Goods-producing sector employees decreased by net 500 in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region. The greatest losses were in Construction (-1,500) and Agriculture (-700), which were partly offset by strong gains in Manufacturing (+1,900).

Employment in the Services-producing sector increased by net 900. Significant gains in Healthcare and social assistance (+2,100) and Wholesale and retail trade (+1,100) were offset by smaller losses in almost all other Services-producing sectors.

“While not the only Economic Region that saw a decrease in the unemployment rate between June and July, the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region now holds the lowest
unemployment rate in the province,” says Gemma Mendez-Smith, executive director at Four County Labour Market Planning Board.

Recently, our connect2JOBS.ca website aggregated 1,400 job postings from the region. Both our Monthly Job Demand and Job Search Reports are now available on connect2JOBS.ca. First- time visitors to the site will be asked to voluntarily share their gender and age ranges with us, so we can produce aggregated (and anonymous) job search reports on who is looking for work and what kind of jobs they are looking for in our region. Our Job Demand reports, on the other hand, present statistics such as the total number of jobs posted, average posting length, top occupations posted, and top hiring employers. You can access the full reports at https://www.connect2jobs.ca/reports/

-30-

Note: Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment, based on a sampling of households in communities. Stratford-Bruce Peninsula figures represent a three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality.