The regional unemployment rate in the area that includes Bruce and Grey counties increased to 3.9 per cent in August, with significant losses in full-time positions being reported.
The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says more than 2,700 full-time jobs were lost in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula region last month, offset partially by 900 new part-time positions.
The size of the region’s labour force also fell in August by 1,500 workers. The jobless rate in August is up 0.3 percentage points from July, when it was 3.6 per cent.
“This employment loss has been the largest in 2021 so far and it could be caused by the seasonality of summer jobs,” the planning board says in a release.
The manufacturing (-1,700), educational services (-1,300) and building and other support services (-600) industries led the job losses in the region in August.
The greatest employment gains came in other services, except public administration (+1,700).
“Many of the job losses could be attributed to students returning to school,” says Executive Director of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board Gemma Mendez-Smith says in a statement. “A decrease in the labour pool will certainly affect the already stressed labour supply for employers and efforts to grow the workforce remains a key priority for our region.”
There are currently around 2,300 positions available on the regional job board for Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth counties: www.connect2JOBS.ca.
Ontario’s provincial unemployment rate for the month of August — unadjusted for seasonality — fell to 8.6 per cent. Nationally, it was down to 7.1 per cent as more than 90,000 new positions were created across the country.