In March, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region decreased by 0.5 percentage point from 7.1% to 6.6%. At the same time, the provincial unemployment rate decreased to 9.1%, both unadjusted for seasonality.

Overall net employment in the region increased by 400, with full-time gains (700) and part-time losses (-200). This employment change shows a positive recovery from the second provincial lockdown which ended in February.

The number of Goods-producing sector employees increased by net 2,100. The main driving force came from significant gains in Utilities (2,200), which was its third consecutive monthly increase in 2021.

Employment in the Services-producing sector, however, decreased by net 1,700. The greatest losses were in Wholesale and retail trade (-2,900) and Transportation and warehousing (-800) while the most gains came from Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (1,300) and Accommodation and food services (1,900). The gains in these sectors could not offset the losses, which resulted in net losses of 1,700.

“We see a recovery in Accommodation and food services sector with continued increases since December 2020 and also back to pre-pandemic levels, 8600 vs. 9000.” says Gemma Mendez-Smith, Executive Director of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. Some sectors like Utilities are above pre-COVID-19 levels but we will be monitoring these number closely to see how the third lockdown will affect recovering and already lagging sectors,” she continued.

Current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased overtime since the pandemic and can be found at: www.connect2JOBS.ca. This is updated regularly so visit often to see the job opportunities. At the time of this release postings stood over 2,100 across the four county region.

source: media release, Four County Labour Market Planning Board