The regional unemployment rate for the area that includes Bruce and Grey counties fell to 5.4 per cent in March.
The Four County Labour Market Planning board says that’s down from six per cent in February. The lower jobless number for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula region came even as overall employment fell, because the size of the labour force declined by a larger number (-3,200 people).
Last month, there were about 500 new full-time positions created in the regional economy, but more than 2,500 part-time jobs were lost.
The largest job losses were in the healthcare and social assistance (-2,200), professional, scientific and technical services (-1,700) and construction (-1,600) in industries. There were employment gains in the finance, insurance and real estate (+1,700) and utilities (+1,300) sectors.
The broader labour market showed signs of weakness in March. Ontario’s unemployment rate increased to 7.6 per cent. Nationally, the number edged higher to 6.7 per cent.
