The January unemployment rate for the region has increased to 4.4 per cent.
The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says in a release, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic region increased by 0.8 per cent last month, compared to the province’s 0.1 per cent increase, now at 5 per cent.
The overall net employment in the region decreased by 4,500, with 3,800 full-time losses and 700 part-time losses. The regional labour force also saw a decrease from 165,400 in December 2022, to 162,300.
The board says the number of good-producing sector employees decreased once again this month by net 1,100. The construction sector experienced the biggest loss in January with 1,800, following by manufacturing at 700.
Agriculture did experience another gain with 1,600.
Employment in the services-producing sector also saw a decrease by net 3,400, the largest monthly decrease seen over the last year. Transportation and warehousing experienced the biggest loss of 1,300, followed by information, culture and recreation at 1,200.
Education services, however, saw a gain of 900.
“The most notable loss this month was in the services-producing sector as well as full-time positions,” says Executive Director of the Board Dana Soucie. “We will be monitoring the trends and working with our stakeholders to support workforce development projects to address these labour shortage.”
Current regional job postings has seen an increase since the pandemic, and can be found on the Connect2Jobs website here.
