The labor market in Brantford continues to fare better than most other regions, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday by Statistics Canada.
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The city’s unemployment rate in February remained the same as the previous month at 4.9 per cent while Ontario’s rose to 6.5 per cent, and nationally the figure stands at 5.8 per cent.
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Jobless rates rose in communities within an hour’s commute from Brantford, and only Guelph came in with a lower rate.
Brantford’s jobless rate has remained below five per hundred for six consecutive months.
“It’s tricky comparing the labor market of communities, since each have some unique characteristics, types of employers and workers,” noted Danette Dalton, executive director of the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie. “Still, it’s a strength that Brantford has been able to buck some trends for months.”
Population growth has outpaced employment growth both nationally and provincially in the past several months.
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Across the country, the working age population – those who are 15+ in age – swelled by 527,000 since August 2023 while employment has grown by 183,000.
Similarly, Ontario’s working age population rose by 236,000 since August, while employment is only up 4,400.
Dalton noted that Brantford and Guelph have seen employment gains above their population growth. Job gains Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge matched population growth, while London, Hamilton, and St. Catharines-Niagara have fallen behind.
“It’s a positive that Brantford’s employment gains have surged,” Dalton observed. “Hopefully that trend continues, and job seekers and employers gain greater confidence in the local economy.”
During the month of February 1,400 employers were looking to hire in Grand Erie, up 17 per cent from the previous month according to Grand Erie Jobs, the planning board’s community online job board. Current postings on the job board dipped slightly to 1,900.
Funded partially by the federal and provincial governments, the Workforce Planning Board is one of 26 non-profit organizations in Ontario that play a role in labor force planning.
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