August Unemployment Rate Increases by 0.1 Percent to 8.7%

By September 12, 2020 September 22nd, 2020 News, News Release 2020
FCLOGO1
Media Information
Gemma Mendez-Smith, Executive Director
519-881-2725, executivedirector@planningboard.ca

News Release

August Unemployment Rate Increases by 0.1 Percent to 8.7%

Walkerton, ON (September 4, 2020) – In August, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.1 percentage point to 8.7%. At the same time, the provincial unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 12.1%.
Overall net employment in the region decreased by 3,400, with full-time losses (-2,000) and part-time losses (-1,300).
The number of Goods-producing sector employees decreased by net 3,100. The main driving force came from significant losses in Construction (-2,600). Agriculture was the only goods-producing sector that experienced gains (+400) in August.
Employment in the Services-producing sector also decreased by net 200. The greatest losses was in Business, building and other support services (-1,500) while the most gains came from Health care and social assistance (1,300). The losses and gains in other sectors precisely offset each other.
Recently, our connect2JOBS.ca website aggregated over 1,500 job postings from the region. Both our Monthly Job Demand and Job Search Reports for August are now available on connect2JOBS.ca. You can access the full reports at https://www.connect2jobs.ca/reports/.
“There are many opportunities available in the region as demonstrated by the jobs aggregator so employers are looking for workers. This could point to recovery for some sectors in our region,” says Gemma Mendez-Smith, executive director with Four County Labour Market Planning Board.

 

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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.