News Release
UNEMPLOYMENT DECREASES AGAIN TO 3.8%
Walkerton, ON (July 9, 2021) – In June, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region (ER) decreased by 0.2 percentage points from 4% to 3.8%. This is pretty close to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the provincial unemployment rate increased to 9%, with both rates unadjusted for seasonality.
Overall net employment in the region decreased by 600, with full-time gains (1,500) and part-time losses (-2,100). With Step 1 reopening happening on June 11th, this employment change shows a continued recovery of the local labour market as full-time workers increase.
The number of Goods-producing sector employees increased by net 600. The main driving force came from positive gains in Agriculture (400) and Construction (300).
The greatest gains came from Wholesale and retail trade (1,900), which was the first time increase in 2021. These gains, however, could not offset the losses in other sectors such as Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-1,200) and Accommodation and food services (-2,200) resulting in a net loss of 1,100 jobs in the Services-producing sector.
“Both our unemployment rate and labour force numbers indicate that we are moving in a positive direction pointing to steady recovery. For the second consecutive month, since the pandemic, the unemployment rate has dipped below 5 percent and we have noted a trend of increasing labour force activity,” says Gemma Mendez-Smith, Executive Director of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “We are hearing from employers across sectors that there is a huge need for employees so a focus on growing our workforce is critical to workforce development in the near future,” she continues.
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 to see the job opportunities. Our current number of job posting is over 2,300.
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Note: Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides estimates of employment and unemployment, based on a sampling of households in communities.
