OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DECREASES TO 3.8%
Walkerton, ON (November 8, 2024) – In October, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 3.8%. The Region’s unemployment rate remains the second lowest in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 7.2%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In October, the Region’s overall population increased by +400 but the labour force size decreased by -2,500 to 170,300, resulting in the size of population not participating in the labour force to increase by +2,900 people. This also brought the participation rate down by 1.0 percentage point to 61.3%. The Region experienced a decrease in overall employment with approximately -1,900 full-time losses and +600 part-time gains.
The number of Goods-producing sector employees decreased minimally by 0.5% (-300) this month. Agriculture experienced the biggest percentage gain this month (+500, 3.82%) followed closely by Construction (+700, 3.8%). Manufacturing experienced the biggest percentage loss (-600, -2.9%) followed by Utilities (-300, -2.6%).
Employment in the Services-producing sector also saw decreases by -1.1% (-1,100) this month. With -600 employment drop, Business, building and other support services experienced the biggest percentage loss in October (-12.8%), followed by Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-900, -11.7%) and Accommodation and food services (-600, -5.6%). However, Wholesale and retail trade experienced 600 employment gains (+3.5%), followed by Other services (except public administration) (+400, +5.7%) and Public administration (+200, +4.8%).
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 reaches 2,142.
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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.
