The numbers don’t look great, thanks mostly to the closure of Durham Furniture in Chesley.
Report Editor Bill Lang says overall, there were more negatives than positives.
Lang says the Corporation’s main concern is a decline in manufacturing jobs, mainly at Durham Furniture and the resulting increase in Unemployment
Insurance Claims.
Lang says manufacturing employment in the region fell by almost 21 per cent driving UI claims up by almost 50 per cent.
That’s a cut of 510 jobs.
But, Lang says then the wood sector is taken out of the equation, there was actually a gain of 55 jobs.
Real Estate Sales were down three percent, and building permits fell by over 10 per cent.
Lang says however the housing stats are not surprising and says the real estate boom of recent quarters would have been tough to sustain.
On the positive side, Lang says requests for social assistance were down by seven per cent, with a decrease in Bruce County of 49 cases, and an increase in Grey of 49.
However, Lang says people are still buying new cars.
He says the sale of new vehicles actually rose 4.5 percent for the quarter over last year.
Lang sums up the quarter by saying the only good news is that it ‘could have been even worse”.
The Saugeen Economic Development Corporation covers the municipalities of Arran Elderslie, Brockton, Hanover, South Bruce, Southgate and West Grey.
