April 2024 employment numbers for Brantford-Brant once again saw little change compared to recent months.
After sitting at 4.9% for three straight months, April’s local unemployment rate was 5%, according to seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Canada.
Even though the Canadian economy added 90,000 jobs in April – far more than forecasted – the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.1%. Ontario added 25,000 of those jobs, but the provincial jobless rate still nudged up 0.1 percentage points to 6.8%.
In labour markets nearest to Brantford, only Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo saw their unemployment rate fall last month. Brantford maintained its second-place spot after Guelph, whose is the lowest at 4.4%.
“The Brantford area labour market continues to be healthy and stable, and the status quo is a good position to be in,” said Danette Dalton, executive director of the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie. “But alongside that story, there are other interesting trends that have become more noticeable.”
One of those trends relates to shifts in work type.
There has been little change in total local employment in the last 12 months, but the number of residents working full time has increased by about 3,300, while part-time work has fallen by an equivalent number.
“It’s considered a positive barometer for the economy when full-time jobs increase,” Dalton said. “It points to employers doing well financially and having greater business confidence, and they show it by hiring or moving part-timers to full time.”
Of the jobs posted in April on the Grand Erie Jobs online job board, operated by the planning board, four in five were full-time positions. Almost 90% were permanent positions, either full time or part time.
There were more than 1,900 new postings last month. Combined with the postings carried over from March, the total of postings appearing in April was 3,500. The number of employers posting jobs was up 5% to 1,400.
Visit Statistics Canada’s website to read their news release on the April 2024 employment numbers for Canada and Ontario.
