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Published Sep 09, 2025 • 2 minute read
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The region’s unemployment rate increased to 4.9 per cent in August, according to the Four County Labour Market Planning Board.
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The unemployment rate for the Stratford-Bruce-Peninsula Economic Region increased by 0.8 per cent in August. Despite the increase, the region has the second-lowest unemployment rate in the province, behind Northwest Ontario.
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The provincial unemployment rate increased by 0.3 per cent to 8.3 per cent. All figures are unadjusted for seasonality.
“Our rate is in line with both seasonal norms and the provincial trends this month”, said Dana Soucie,
executive director for the Four County Labour Market Planning Board. “The numbers show positive signs that
our region is weathering the economic changes at this time, and we will follow the sectors that show concerns
as we move forward”.
Current job postings for the Bruce, Grey, Huron, and Perth region have increased over time since the pandemic and
can be found at www.connect2JOBS.ca. The current number of job postings exceeds 1,600.
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In August, the region’s overall population aged 15+ increased by 300, whereas the labour force size dropped
by 1,300 people, resulting in the number of people not in the labour force in the region increasing by 1,600. This dragged the region’s participation rate down by 0.5 percentage points to 58.2 per cent.
The region experienced a decrease of 2,600 people in overall employment and saw an approximate 200 full-time employment gains, whereas about 2,800 losses in part-time employment were recorded in the region.
The goods-producing sector saw an increase in overall employment numbers in August (+2,500, +3.8 per cent), with
the biggest gain in construction (+4,600, +27.2 per cent), followed by manufacturing (+800, +3.1 per cent). On the other hand, utilities experienced an employment decrease in three consecutive months (-2,500, -17.1 per cent).
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Overall employment in the services-producing sector saw a decrease of -5.2 per cent (-5,100 people) in August. With a
1,800 drop in employment, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the biggest percentage loss this month (-23.1per cent), followed by educational services (-1,100, -18.0 per cent) and public administration (-900, -16.4 per cent).
Wholesale and retail trade also experienced -12.3 per cent employment losses (-2,700 people). On the other hand, business, building and other support services experienced the biggest percentage growth in employment in August (+500, +18.5 per cent), followed by information, culture and recreation (+600, +12.5 per cent), and other services (except public administration) (+900, +12.5 per cent).
Professional, scientific and technical services (+300, +2.3 per cent) also saw employment gains. Employment remained unchanged in the health care and social assistance sector.
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