The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says the unemployment rate in the region increased in December.
A release says, in December, the unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.8 percentage points to 3.5%, now the second lowest in Ontario.
The provincial unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.8 per cent, both unadjusted for seasonality.
The annual adjusted unemployment rate for 2022 was 3.7 per cent, 0.5 percentage points lower than that for 2021 which was 4.2 per cent.
Overall net employment in the region decreased by 3,600, with 6,000 full-time losses and 2,400 part-time gains. The region’s labour force size decreased from 165,900 people in November 2022 to 163,700 in December 2022.
The number of Goods-producing sector employees decreased once again this month by net 1,500. The Manufacturing sector experienced the biggest loss this month (-1,300). Construction and Utilities also experienced losses (-1,200) and (-1,100) respectively. Agriculture experienced a gain (+2,100).
The labour board says employment in the Services-producing sector decreased by net 2,000. Health care and social assistance experienced the biggest loss (-2,000) while Educational services experienced the largest gain (+1,400) followed by Transportation and warehousing (+800).
Palnning board director Dana Soucie says in a statement, “With an aging workforce and high participation rates; vacant jobs are increasing and staying vacant longer”
She adds, “Rural communities face additional barriers in attracting the necessary workforce; making it extremely competitive for many employers in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth. Understanding our ability to attract and retain workers to the region will be a valuable exercise as we navigate these the labour shortages.”
The labour board says, current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth region have increased since the pandemic and can be found at: www.connect2JOBS.ca.
They say it is updated regularly and the current number of job postings currently exceeds 2,100, a decrease of 500 jobs from last month.