The regional unemployment rate in the area that includes Bruce and Grey counties fell to 6.6 per cent in March, down from 7.1 per cent a month prior.
The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says more than 700 new full-time positions were created in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula region last month, partially offset by a decline of 200 part-time jobs.
“We see a recovery in accommodation and food services sector with continued increases since December 2020 and also back to pre-pandemic levels” says Four County Labour Market Planning Board Executive Director Gemma Mendez-Smith in a statement. “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.”
The utilities (+2,200), accommodation and food services (+1,900) and insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+1,300) sectors led the employment gains in March.
The greatest job losses came in the wholesale and retail trade (-2,900) and transportation/warehousing industries (-800).
The Ontario unemployment rate in March also fell slightly to 9.1 per cent.
Nationally, the jobless rate dropped to 7.5 per cent as more than 303,000 new positions were created across the country. However, Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 9.7 per cent in March, if Canadians who wanted work but didn’t search for a job were included in calculations.