​March unemployment rate decreases to 5.4 per cent in economic region

In March, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 5.4 per cent. Meanwhile, the provincial unemployment rate increased to 7.6 per cent from 7.2 per cent, both unadjusted for seasonality.

That’s the word from the Four County Labour Market Planning Board.

Last month, the region’s overall population increased by 300 although the labour force size decreased by 3,200 people, pushing the number of those not in the labour force in the region up by 3,500, to 117,000 people.

This drew down the region’s participation rate by 1.2 percentage points to 59.9 per cent. The region experienced a decrease of about 2,100 people in overall employment, with approximately 500 full-time gains and 2,500 part-time losses.*

The overall employment number of goods-producing sector dropped slightly by 0.2 per cent (-200) in March, with the biggest percentage loss in construction (-1,600, -7,7 per cent), followed by manufacturing (-100, -0.6 per cent).

On the other hand, employment in utilities experienced the biggest increase again this month (+1,300, +11.5 per cent), followed by agriculture (+100, +1.3 per cent).

Overall employment in the services-producing sector saw a decrease of -1.8 per cent (-1,900) in March. With -1,700 drop in employment, professional, scientific and technical services experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-13.7 per cent), followed by health care and social assistance (-2,200, -9.6 per cent) and transportation and warehousing (-400, -9.3 per cent). Educational services (-500, -7.4 per cent) and accommodation and food services (-300, -3.9 per cent) also saw employment losses.

On the other hand, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the biggest employment gains this month (+1,700, +26.6 per cent), followed by business, building and other support services (+300, +6.1 per cent) and other services (except public administration) (+300, +4.3 per cent).

Current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased over time since the pandemic and can be found at www.connect2JOBS.ca. The current number of job postings reaches 1,322.

*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.