AUGUST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES TO 4.5%
Walkerton, ON (September 8, 2023) – In August, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5%. The provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 6.3%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
The region’s labour force size increased from 163,600 in July 2023 to 164,300 in August 2023. The size of population not participating in the labour force also decreased by 300, bringing the participation rate up by 0.2 percentage points to 60.3%. While 2,900 full-time employment gains were reported last month, the increase was accompanied with 2,500 part-time employment losses, resulting in 500 net increases in the region’s overall employment size in August.
The number of Goods-producing sector employees decreased this month by net 1,200 (-1.9%). With a loss of 900 employees, Agriculture again experienced the greatest loss this month (-7.2%), followed by Manufacturing (-800, -3.7%) and Construction (-400, -1.7%). On the other hand, Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas experienced the biggest gain this month (+200, 12.5%), followed by Utilities (+700, 11.5%).
Employment in the Services-producing sector increased by net 1,700 (+1.8%). With an increase of 1,200 employees, Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the greatest gain this month (+19.5%), followed by Information, culture and recreation(+1,000, 19.2%) and Accommodation and food services (+1200, 16.9%). On the other hand, Educational services again experienced the biggest loss this month (-1,300, -17.1%), followed by Transportation and Warehousing (-300, -12.0%) and Health care and social assistance (-1,500, -9.1%).
Current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased overtime since the pandemic and can be found at www.connect2JOBS.ca. This is updated regularly so visit often and create your account to track the job opportunities. Our current number of job postings reached over 1,600 postings.
