NOVEMBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DECREASES TO 3.9%
Walkerton, ON (December 5, 2025) – Employment in the Region increased by 4,600 (+2.7%) in November, with gains in part-time employment (+16.1%; +4,800) partially offset by losses in full-time employment (-0.1%; -200). In November, the unemployment rate in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 3.9%. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate decreased 0.7 percentage points this month to 7.2%, both unadjusted for seasonality. Employment in the Region decreased in the goods-producing sector (-2.9%; -2,000) yet increased in the services-producing sector (+6.5%; +6,600).
In November, the Region’s overall population aged 15+ increased by +200 whereas the labour force size increased by 3,900 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the Region to decrease by 3,700. This increased the Region’s participation rate up by 1.2 percentage points to 61.8%, the highest it has been so far in the calendar year.
The Goods-producing sector saw a decrease in overall employment numbers in November (-2,000, -2.9%), with the biggest losses in Manufacturing (-3,500, -16.4%), followed by Construction (-1,100, -4.3%). On the other hand, Agriculture experienced an employment increase (+1,700, +18.7%) alongside Utilities (+800, +7.1%).
Overall employment in the Services-producing sector saw an increase of +6.5% (+6,600 people) in November. Business, building and other support services experienced the largest percentage growth (+700, +14.9%) in employment followed by Educational services (+900, +12.5%), Wholesale and retail trade (+2,100, +10.4%) and Other services (except public administration) (+800, +9.4%) and Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+400, +9.1%).
“This is the highest participation rate we have seen this year which is a great sign”, says Dana Soucie, Executive Director for the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “We will continue to monitor other sectors for seasonality and annual fluctuations”.
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.
