Advertisement 1

Stratford area unemployment down slightly, but lockdown impact looms

Article content

There are signs of economic recovery in Stratford-area employment data released Friday by Statistics Canada, but optimism is being tempered by the toll a third pandemic shutdown could take on non-essential businesses over the next few weeks.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

Unemployment in the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula’s economic region decreased by about half a percentage point to 6.6 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent Labour Force Survey. 

Further analysis by the Four County Labour Market Planning Board shows overall net employment in the region increased by about 400 jobs last month following the previous provincewide lockdown that ended in February.

Article content

Those gains were driven by the goods-producing sector, which added 2,100 jobs overall. That includes utilities, which added 2,200 jobs in March, surpassing employment levels prior to the pandemic after three straight months of job increases.

Area service providers, on the other hand, continued to struggle last month, losing 1,700 jobs overall. The biggest losses were in wholesale and retail trade (-2,900) and transportation and warehousing (-800).

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

The local accommodation and food services sector gained 1,900 jobs in March. That’s a signal the region’s tourism-based businesses are rebounding, but the impact Ontario’s latest pandemic shutdown will have is still a major concern.

“I can see that we have been entering or slowly progressing into economic recovery but cautious about that perspective only because we are in a third lockdown and I’m not sure how our small businesses will survive,” said Gemma Mendez-Smith, the labour market planning board’s executive director. “It’s going to be telling in the next month or two, particularly as we head into ramping up for the hospitality and tourism seasons and seeing how that plays out with the pandemic really not under any kind of control.”

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable.

“I think it’s a compounding effect on our small businesses, particularly retail accommodations, food services, those industries that thrive on that hospitality and tourism economy,” Mendez-Smith said. “Even that local support, when it’s a lockdown some of these business can not open.”

The government responded Friday by opening up a second round of grants aimed at keeping small businesses afloat. Including the first round, that effort will cost the government about $3.4 billion.

The region’s most recent unemployment figure, a three-month moving average, is unadjusted for seasonality, unlike the provincial and national averages reported by Statistics Canada Friday.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

There are about 10,000 fewer jobs in the the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula economic region compared to March of last year, Statistics Canada said.  

Nationally, the Canadian economy posted strong job gains in March, adding 303,000 jobs after adding 259,000 positions in February. Those figures helped lower the country’s unemployment rate to 7.5 per cent from 8.2 per cent, the lowest since February 2020, before the start of the pandemic.

Among the provinces, the largest job gains were seen in Ontario, which added 182,000 jobs in March, Statistics Canada said.

Ontario’s unemployment rate, adjusted for seasonality, is now 7.5 per cent, down from 9.2 in February. 

-With files from Postmedia News

cmontanini@postemdia.com

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers