SEPTEMBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES TO 4.3%
Walkerton, ON (October 11, 2024) – In September, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.6 percentage points to 4.3%, the largest percentage increase of all regions in Ontario in two consecutive months, while the Region’s unemployment rate remains the second lowest in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 7.5%, both unadjusted for seasonality.
In September, the Region’s overall population increased by +400 but the labour force size decreased by -300 to 172,800, resulting in the size of population not participating in the labour force to increase by +700. This also brought the participation rate down by 0.2 percentage points to 62.3%. The Region experienced seasonal decrease in overall employment resulted from approximately -1,300 full-time and -200 part-time employment losses.
The number of Goods-producing sector employees increased by 3.8% (+2,400) this month. All of the Good-producing sector experienced employment gains in September. In particular, Utilities once again experienced the biggest percentage gain this month (+900, +8.3 %), followed by Manufacturing (+1,100, +5.6%) and Construction (+500, 2.8%).
On the other hand, employment in the Services-producing sector decreased by 3.7% (-3,800) this month. With -1,800 employment drop, Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the biggest percentage loss in September (-18.9%), followed by Public Administration (-500, -10.6%) and Transportation and warehousing (-500, -10.4%). However, Professional, scientific and technical services (+1,000, +7.3%) experienced 1,000 employment gains (+7.3%), followed by Other services (except public administration) (+300, +4.5%) and Business, building and other support services (-100, +2.2%).
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 2,120.
New Labour Force Data Available at smaller Sub-provincial levels
On September 17, 2024, Statistics Canada released a new set of data which applies small area estimation method to enhance the availability of labour force characteristics data for smaller sub-provincial areas, including census agglomerations (CAs) and a complementary geography called self-contained labour areas (SLAs). The new data is expected to improve data availability and precision, thus supporting more effective labour market development in smaller communities and rural areas. The geography of the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region is composed of two CAs (Stratford and Owen Sound) and three SLAs (Saugeen Shores, West Grey and North Perth). More information of the geographical coverage, please refer to the Labour market indicators, census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations and self-contained labour areas: Interactive dashboard.
Small area estimates for July 2024 is now available (See Small area estimates of labour force characteristics for sub-provincial areas, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality, Table: 14-10-0457-01).
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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.
