JUNE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES TO 4.3%
Walkerton, ON (July 11, 2025) – In June, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.4 percentage points to 4.3%. The Region continues to sit at the second lowest unemployment rate in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points this month to 7.8%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In June, the Region’s overall population increased by +300 whereas the labour force size grew by 1,800 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to drop by 1,500. This pushed the Region’s participation rate up slightly by 0.6 percentage points to 59.7%. In addition, the Region experienced an increase of 1,100 people in overall employment, with approximately +400 full-time employment gains and +600 gains in part-time employment from last month. *
The Goods-producing sector saw modest growth in overall employment numbers in June (+1,700, +2.7%), with the biggest percentage gains in Construction (+1,000, +6.3%), followed closely by Manufacturing (+1,400, +6.2%). Agriculture saw an increase of 100 in employment (+1.2%). On the other hand, Utilities experienced an employment decrease in June (-400, -2.5%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw a decrease of -0.6% (-600 people) in June. With -800 drop in employment, Information, culture and recreation experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-15.7%), followed by Business, building and other support services (-500, -12.5%) and
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-900, -9.2%). Wholesale and retail trade (-1,300, -5.2%) and Educational services (-300, -4.0%) also had employment losses. On the other hand, Transportation and warehousing experienced the biggest employment gains this month (+500, +18.5%), followed by Public administration (+500, +11.1%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (+1,000, +9.7%).
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 1,300.
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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.
