Ontario Works caseload numbers in Grey County are on the rise again.
Stats for February show just over 14 hundred cases (1409) — an increase of 45 cases from January.
It is the 17th increase in the past 18 months.
With the exception of a slight decrease last September — the numbers have been going up since September 2008.
But Grey County Social Services Director Barbara Fedy says there is hope for optimism.
The case numbers for March are not available yet.
But Fedy says it’s a fact that intake numbers were down and employment prospects seem to be better with the return of nice weather.