JANUARY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES TO 4.9%
Walkerton, ON (February 6, 2026) – Employment in the Region increased by 200 (+0.1%) in January, with gains in part-time employment (+4.8%; +1,800) partially offset by losses in full-time employment (-1.1%; -1,600). In January, the unemployment rate in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.9 percentage points to 4.9%. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points this month to 7.1%, both unadjusted for seasonality. Employment in the Region increased in the goods-producing sector (-2.5%, -1,700) as well as increased in the services-producing sector (+1.7%; +1,900).
In January, the Region’s overall population aged 15+ increased by +200 whereas the labour force size increased by 2,000 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to decrease by 1,800. This increased the Region’s participation rate up by 0.7 percentage points to 63.5%.
The Goods-producing sector saw a decrease in overall employment numbers in January (-1,700, -2.5%), with losses in Agriculture (-900, -7.5%), Utilities (-500, -3.9%), and Construction (-400, -1.6%). On the other hand, gains experienced in Manufacturing experienced an employment increase (+500, +3.0%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw an increase of +1.7% (+1,900 people) in January. Accommodation and food services experienced the largest percentage growth (+800, +11.8%) in employment followed by Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+400, +7.8%), Transportation and warehousing (+200, +6.5%), Educational services (+500, +5.7%), and Wholesale and retail trade (+1,200, +5.3%). On the other hand, Professional, scientific and technical services experienced the biggest percentage decrease in employment (-1,500, -12.8%), followed by Information, culture and recreation (-400, -6.8%) and Other services (except public administration (-100, -0.9%).
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 1,400.
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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.
