Jobless rate drops almost 1% in May
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The rate of those without jobs in Brantford-Brant continues to fall, hitting the lowest point seen since July 2022.
Statistics Canada’s monthly labour force survey showed the jobless rate here dropped almost a full percentage point to 4.1 per cent in May. It was five per cent in April.
The May rate puts Brantford-Brant well under the national jobless rate, which rose to 5.2 per cent, and the Ontario rate, which climbed to 5.5 per cent as a result of 24,000 fewer people with jobs.
“While we remain optimistic given the year-over-year job growth,” said Danette Dalton, executive director of the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie, “we do need to focus on supporting more youth with finding meaningful work as the summer approaches,”
Dalton said her agency is seeing a “growing number” of students who can’t find stable part-time or summer jobs, then not participating in the labour force due to discouragement.
“We need to create more opportunities to mentor and engage them, to utilize their unique talents and help them build their skill-sets.” she said.
As part of that, the Workforce Planning Board partnered with area school boards and several other agencies to host 1,600 elementary school students from across the Grand Erie region to a showcase of trades and career jobs held last month at the Gretzky Centre.
While the jobless rate dropped, the employment rate also dipped, but only slightly.
Statistics show that was mainly in the manufacturing sector but that area has still seen about 4,000 more people working since last May.
Employment in finance and insurance has also increased considerably over the year.
Grand Erie Jobs, the online job board hosted by the planning board, saw about 2,500 new postings in May, which was a slight drop from the postings in April.
The board said the largest number of job postings continues to be in healthcare and social assistance, and manufacturing. Jobs posted for food service and retail trade workers both increased over the last month.
The largest number of new job posts in May was from the Brant County Healthcare System, followed by several regional municipalities.
The Workplace Planning Board is one of 26 non-profit organizations that play a leadership role in labour force planning. The board is funded, in part, by the federal and provincial governments.
SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble
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