Ontario unemployment rate just dropped to the lowest number it's been in decades

May 9 2023, 8:32 pm

Canada may have seen its second-worst unemployment rate in recorded history over the course of the pandemic, but it seems that people are finally back on their feet, according to the latest figures from StatCan.

The government agency has released its latest Labour Force Survey, and while employment is up slightly nationwide, Ontario is boasting a pretty impressive return to work compared to other provinces.

While employment numbers declined in Manitoba (by only 0.6%, mind you) last month and remained steady in most of the remainder of the country, it increased in both Ontario and PEI compared to the month prior.

A total of 33,000 people were hired in full- and part-time positions across Ontario in April, marking an uptick of 0.4%, which drove our unemployment rate down to 4.9% — the lowest it’s been in the province since October 1989, StatCan says.

Interestingly, this workforce growth wasn’t focused in the big city, where the unemployment rate “was little changed at 5.5%,” the report notes.

Instead, unemployment was lowest in the city of Guelph, where it now sits at just 3.3%, followed by Thunder Bay, with 3.9%.

This is compared to Windsor, which has the highest unemployment rate in the province at 6.7%, and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, which saw a rise in unemployment from 5.9% to 6.1% between March and April 2023.

PEI, meanwhile, experienced a whopping 2.5% jump in employment, though this represents only 2,200 workers, and the province’s unemployment rate is 7.1%, much higher than Ontario’s.

Becky RobertsonBecky Robertson

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