windsor's unemployment rate remains highest in canada
the windsor area retained its position as having the hi...
sep 9 2024
3 minute read
windsor remains canada's unemployment capital as of august. in this june 27, 2024, file photo, workers are shown at the construction site of a condominium complex on lauzon road in windsor.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
the windsor area retained its position as having the highest unemployment rate in canada after seeing a 0.1 increase to 9.2 per cent in august.
the statistics canada labour force survey reported there are 19,500 unemployed persons in the area, an increase of 300 in august.
“unfortunately, windsor having the highest unemployment rate is not what we wanted to see,” said workforce windsoressex senior manager of research and innovation tashlyn teskey.
“knowing all (census metropolitan areas in canada) had a similar jump in their unemployment rates doesn’t leave us feeling alone. it’s not something specific to the windsor essex job market.”
the national unemployment rate increased 0.2 per cent to 6.6 per cent while the provincial rate jumped 0.4 to 7.1 per cent.
there were several areas that saw substantial increases in their rates such as oshawa (1.1 to 7.8 per cent), brantford (1.0 to 7.0 per cent) and kitchener-waterloo (0.6 to 7.1 per cent).
teskey added the increase for the windsor census metropolitan area (cma), which includes lakeshore, tecumseh, lasalle and amherstburg, was also impacted by the windsor assembly plant being down for its annual summer shutdown (august 12-16) the week the survey was conducted. that idled thousands of workers at the stellantis plant and its suppliers.
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“that certainly has a ripple effect when such a large employer is closed,” teskey said.
“the good news is, despite windsor assembly being down, the number of manufacturing jobs increased by 300 in august.”
the retail and wholesale trade sector added a surprising 2,400 jobs while construction added 200 positions to make the sector 40 per cent larger than it was in august 2023.
the biggest job losses came in food and accommodation (1,800) and health care and social assistance (500).
teskey said though new job listings declined by nine per cent for august, there were still nearly 6,000 new listings for the month.
“we’ll be keeping an eye on retail trade, which for the last few years hasn’t seen that boom in holiday shopping,” teskey said. “we’ll see if this trend that started this month continues.”
the number of those employed in the windsor cma dipped by 100 people from its record-high 192,900 the previous month. the size of the labour force — those employed plus those looking for a job — increased by 100 to a record 212,200.
the area’s population continued its robust growth with another 1,200 people arriving to push the windsor cma above the 330,000 mark.
“the population growth and the size of the labour force growing are positive numbers,” said windsor-essex regional chamber of commerce ceo/president rakesh naidu said.
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“what is concerning is the business sentiment is negative.
“the bank of canada interest rate cuts aren’t coming at a pace to give confidence to the industry. a lot of sectors are still struggling.
“we’re entering a phase of minimal, but sustained recovery.”
naidu said it’s unreasonable to expect the economy to recover quickly from the shock of the covid shutdown.
he said the chamber will be watching several indicators alongside the employment numbers to gauge the health of the recovery. among them are the exchange rate, crude oil prices, job postings, interest rates and the size of the workforce.
“you can’t flick the economy on with a switch after the shock of something like the pandemic,” naidu said. “we’re going to have to go through this phase we’re going to struggle.”
dwaddell@postmedia.com
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