APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DECREASES TO 4.2%
Walkerton, ON (May 9, 2025) – In April, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 4.2%. This is the largest percentage drop of all economic regions in Ontario and the Region now sits at the second lowest unemployment rate in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate remained unchanged this month at 7.6%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In April, the Region’s overall population increased by +300 although the labour force size decreased by -3,200 people, pushing the number of people not in the labour force in the Region up by 3,600 last month to 120,600 people. This drew down the Region’s participation rate by 1.2 percentage points to 58.7%. The Region experienced a decrease of -900 people in overall employment, with approximately -1000 full-time losses and no changes in part-time employment from last month. *
The overall employment number in the Goods-producing sector increased slightly by 0.8% (+500) in April, with the biggest percentage gain seen in Manufacturing (+2,000, +11.2%), followed by Utilities (+1,300, +10.3%). On the other hand, employment in Construction experienced the biggest percentage decrease this month (-2,200, -11.4%), followed by Agriculture (-200, -2.5%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw a decrease of -1.4% (-1,500) this month. With -1,100 drop in employment, Transportation and warehousing experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-28.2%), followed by Information, culture and recreation (-1,100, -16.4%) and Healthcare and social assistance (-1,700, -8.3%). Professional, scientific and technical services (-600, -5.6%), Public administration (-100, -2.3%) and Other services except public administration (-100, -1.4%) also saw employment losses. On the other hand, Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the biggest employment gains again this month (+1,400, +17.3%), followed by Business, building and other support services (+400, +7.7%) and Accommodation and food services (+500, +6.8%).
Current Job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased overtime since the pandemic and can be found at www.connect2JOBS.ca. The current number of job postings exceeds 1,370.
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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. Numbers may not sum to total due to rounding.
