More people were working in September in Midwestern Ontario. In September, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 0.8 percentage points to 7.9% while the provincial unemployment rate also declined by 1.1 percentage points to 11%.
According to the Four County Labour Market Planning Board, overall net employment in the region increased by 2,400 with 1,000 new full-time and 1,400 part-time job gains. The number of Goods-producing sector employees increased by 1,500, with the greatest increases in Utilities (+700) and Manufacturing (+700). Employment in the Services-producing sector increased by 800. The greatest gains were in Wholesale and retail trade (+1,900) and Professional, scientific and technical services (+600). These gains were partly off-set by losses in Educational services (-700) and Finance, insurance, and real estate (-500).
The Planning Board is continuing to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the local labour market. If you live and work in Bruce, Grey, Huron or Perth counties, please take a few minutes to fill out a confidential and anonymous survey concerning your experiences with employment, precarious work, financial demands and physical/mental health challenges resulting from the pandemic: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FCLMPBCOVIDIMPACT
The survey will be open until November 30, 2020 and results will be available in December. For more information, please contact sarah@planningboard.ca
“Based on these seasonally unadjusted data it appears we are in recovery mode which is good news for the economic region,” said Gemma Mendez-Smith, executive director of the Planning Board. “We will definitely be keeping a keen eye on these numbers to determine the extent of our region’s economy, over the next few months,” she stated.
