Unemployment in the region the includes Grey and Bruce counties jumped to 9.3 per cent in May.
The Four County Labour Market planning board says 4,300 jobs were lost in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula economic region last month — 1,700 of those full-time positions.
The construction, professional, scientific and technical services, and transportation/warehousing sectors led the job losses in the area.
Ontario's jobless rate hit 13.6 per cent in May. Nationally, the unemployment hit a record high of 13.7 per cent — but that was better than most economists were expecting as some businesses started to bring employees back to work with support from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.
The Canadian economy actually added 289,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate rose as more people started looking for work.