January 6, 2023 9:34am
Windsor’s unemployment rate was still the highest in Canada last month, but it also fell almost half a percentage point to 8.2 per cent.
The local economy added 5,300 new jobs in December, pushing the jobless rate down 0.4 percentage points from November’s rate of 8.6 per cent.
According to Statistics Canada’s Labor Force Survey, Windsor’s Participation Rate climbed 1.6 percentage points to 63.6 per cent.
The report for December showed a national increase in employment of 0.5 percentage points to 5 per cent, as 104,000 Canadians filled new positions.
The jobless rate is only a tenth of a percentage point above the all-time low of 4.9 per cent set in June and July.
Another 35,000 people found work in construction, almost helped them in Ontario. Of the 23,000 new jobs in the professional, scientific and technical sectors, 22,000 were in the province. Overall, Ontario gained 42,000 jobs last month, which helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.3 per cent.
Over the past year, Ontario has added 105,000 jobs to its economy.
The Labor Force Survey also provided feedback on how many Canadians provided rideshare or delivery services. It said 250,000 Canadians had so-called gig jobs, and 58,000 said it was their sole source of employment. About 207,000 were in delivery services, while 79,000 drove a taxi or an Uber.
Employment for core-aged women aged 25 to 54 reached an all-time high in 2022, with 81 percent working. It’s the highest percentage since 1976. Of those women with at least one child under six, 75.2 per cent had a job, an increase of 3.3 per cent over pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, 69.3 per cent of women who were recent immigrants were employed, up 9.7 percentage points from 2019.
The employment rate for young workers rose to 57.8 per cent for men aged 15 to 24 and 59.2 per cent for women in the same age group. In all, the economy recovered losses for younger employees felt between July and September.
Absenteeism because of illness or disability across the country was 8.1 per cent in December. That’s an increase from 6.8 per cent in November and above the 6.9 per cent rate before COVID-19.
Average hourly wages continued to grow year over year. They increased 5.1 per cent over December 2021 or by $1.57 to $32.06.
Statistics Canada will release the next Labor Market Survey detailing employment figures for January on February 3, 2023.
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