The regional unemployment rate in the area, which includes Bruce and Grey counties, fell to three per cent in May.
The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says this 0.5 per cent decrease last month for the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula Economic Region is the lowest the unemployment rate has been since November 2022.
The provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.2 per cent, now sitting at 6.9.
As the region’s overall population increased by 300 in May and the labour force size went down by 1,000, this resulted in the amount of people not participating in the labour force to increase by 1,300. This brought the participation rate down by 0.4 per cent to 59.8 per cent.
While the region experienced a decrease of about 200 in total employment size, there were 700 full-time employment gains in May.
Agriculture saw the biggest percentage loss again in May of 13.1 per cent (-1,400), followed by manufacturing at 6.2 per cent (-1,400) and utilities at 1.4 per cent (-100).
The biggest percentage gains came from forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil, and gas at 9.5 per cent (+200), with construction at 2.3 per cent (+400).
Employment in finance, insurance, real estate, and rental and leasing saw the largest employment increase at 14.3 per cent (+1,200), while education services experienced the largest percentage loss at 7.7 per cent (-600). Health care and social assistance also went down by 5.6 per cent (-1,300).
Executive Director of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board Dana Soucie says although the unemployment rate has dropped again, the seasonality of the sectors does not bode any big surprises.
“The health care sector has seen gains in previous months, and will be monitored for any downward trends as seen this month,” says Soucie.
Current job postings are available on the Connect2Jobs website here.