June 2023 employment numbers saw Brantford-Brant in a three-way tie for Ontario’s lowest jobless rate.
June saw the area’s unemployment rate fall to 3.9%, down from 4.1% in May, according to Statistics Canada’s estimates released on Friday. Meanwhile, Norfolk County’s jobless rate for June was 4.5%, almost the same as one year ago.
Brantford-Brant was tied with Kingston and Thunder Bay with 3.9% jobless rates. Among nearby communities, the lowest rate was Guelph’s 4.2%. Hamilton’s unemployment rate was 5%, while Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge was 6.2%.
Employment grew by 60,000 across Canada last month, but the jobless rate still climbed to 5.4% because more people searched for work. It was a similar story at the provincial level, as Ontario’s rate increased to 5.7%, despite employment being up 56,000.
“The local job market continues to be strong, with companies expanding and many active construction projects,” said Danette Dalton, the Workforce Planning Board’s executive director.
“Yet, at the same time, the number of people not in the labour force, from students to older adults, is the highest in more than 6 months. There are many potential workers we need to engage with to get them participating.”
People not in the labour force
The number of local adults 15 and over not in the labour force, meaning they were neither employed nor unemployed, was 40,400 in June, up more than 5,000 from last December.
“Some of those people were working over the winter but aren’t now. It’s unclear why,” Dalton said.
There were more than 2,700 job vacancies in June on Grand Erie Jobs, the area’s largest online job board, which is operated by the Workforce Planning Board. In total, there were 4,500 active job postings last month, with 1,500 employers looking to hire.
Retail salesperson is the No. 1 job in demand, while transport truck drivers, material handlers and customer service representatives were also heavily advertised for in June. There were also a large number of postings in education, from elementary school teachers to university lecturers.
Visit Statistics Canada’s website to read their news release on June 2023 employment numbers for Canada and Ontario.
