The shrinking Stratford-area labor force has hit a two-year low, figures released Friday by Statistics Canada show.
Already starving for labourers, Stratford’s widespread economic region – including Perth, Huron, Bruce and Gray counties – lost 3,200 potential workers last month and is down about 4,200 people compared to this time last year, the federal agency said.
“As we see our labor force continue to shrink, it is imperative that we build strong attract and retention strategies,” Gemma Mendez-Smith, the executive director of the Four County Labor Market Planning Board, said Friday. “The size of the labor force is currently at its lowest since the onset of the pandemic.
“We’re looking at a lot (fewer) people available for work in our region.”
The jobless rate in Stratford’s economic region, a three-month moving average unadjusted for seasonality, rose from three per cent to 4.6 per cent in January, according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labor Force Survey.
Further analysis from the Four County board shows the total number of people employed full time in the region decreased last month by 5,400, the largest drop since the beginning of the pandemic. Most of those losses happened in the services-producing sector, specifically wholesale and retail trade, health care, and social assistance.
January marks the fifth straight month losses have been recorded in the region’s wholesale and retail trade sector, Mendez Smith said.
In the goods-producing sector, the number of people in the region employed in utilities dropped by 1,000 and the number of people employed in manufacturing dropped by 700.
One of the few industries to grow in the region last month was professional, scientific and technical services, which gained 1,500 people.
The labor board’s online job portal, .connect2JOBS.ca, showed over 2,600 postings on Friday and that number has been increasing.
The full economic impact of Ontario’s recent Omicron-induced shutdown is not yet clear, Mendez Smith said.
As in all previous waves of the virus, the accommodation and food services sector was the hardest-hit industry since restrictions were imposed on Jan. 5. As a result, the province’s unemployment rate jumped significantly in January to 7.3 per cent, up from December’s 6.1 per cent, after losing 146,000 jobs.
Nationally, Canada’s unemployment rate also went up in January and now sits at 6.5 per cent, up from six per cent in December.
Unlike the regional jobless rate, both provincial and national figures are adjusted for seasonality.