DECEMBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES TO 4.0%
Walkerton, ON (January 9, 2026) – Employment in the Region increased by 2,600 (+1.5%) in December, with gains in part-time employment (+7.8%; +2,700) partially offset by losses in full-time employment (-0.1%; -100). In December, the unemployment rate in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.0%. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage points this month to 7.0%, both unadjusted for seasonality. Employment in the Region increased in the goods-producing sector (+2.1%; +1,400) as well as increased in the services-producing sector (+1.1%; +1,200).
In December, the Region’s overall population aged 15+ increased by +200 whereas the labour force size increased by 3,000 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to decrease by 2,800. This increased the Region’s participation rate up by 1.0 percentage points to 62.8%, the highest for the Region in the 2025 calendar year.
The Goods-producing sector saw an increase in overall employment numbers in December (+1,400, +2.1%), with gains experienced in Agriculture (+1,200, +11.1%), followed by Utilities (+800, +6.7%) and Construction (+800, +3.3%). On the other hand, Manufacturing experienced an employment decrease (-1,400, -7.8%).
Overall emplyment in the Services-producing sector saw an increase of +1.1% (+1,200 people) in December. Other services (except public administration) experienced the largest percentage growth (+1,400, +15.0%) in employment followed by Educational services (+600, +7.4%), Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+300, +6.3%) and Health care and social assistance (+1,300, +5.3%). On the other hand, Public administration experienced the biggest percentage decrease in employment (-700, -14.0%), followed by Professional, scientific and technical services (-1,200, -9.3%) and Information, culture and recreation (-500, -7.8%) and Transportation and warehousing (-200, -6.1%).
“We continue to see positive signs for our region with the increase in participation rates of those employed or seeking employment and the decrease of those not in the labour force”, says Dana Soucie, Executive Director for the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “As the year wraps up, we will soon finalize our review of annual changes and trends to be released in the 2025 Local Labour Market Plan in February. We look forward to seeing you at our Virtual Public Consultation Session on January 13th where we will dive into these trends and provide an opportunity to engage in our findings”.
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 currently exceeds 1,200.
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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.
