Unemployment climbs again
Niagara’s increasing unemployment rate is described as “astounding ” at a time when there are so many tourism jobs available that companies are considering bringing in foreign workers to fill them all.
According to Statistics Canada’s latest seasonally adjusted Labour Force Survey, Niagara unemployment climbed to 7.2 per cent in June, after inching its way higher for the past few months.
Niagara Falls Tourism Association chairman Wayne Thomson called the new statistics “really unusual at this time of the year.”
After several months of stable unemployment rates at about 6.4 per cent, unemployment increased to 6.8 per cent in April, to 6.9 per cent in May, and climbed an additional 0.3 per cent to reach its current level in June.
Thomson said it’s “astounding ” to see an increase in unemployment when “it’s very difficult to get people to fill all the positions that we need in the (tourism) industry.”
“We are without exception experiencing one of the best years we’ve had in tourism.”
Thomson said the shortage of local workers has led several area tourism businesses to look into the potential of bringing foreign workers to the area to fill the need, similar to local agricultural industries.
“It’s extremely difficult to get people to fill all the positions, particularly in Niagara Falls with what we’re experiencing in the tourism industry right now.”
The local unemployment rate continues to remain higher than the national rate of six per cent and provincial rate of 6.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s unemployment rate remains steady at 5.2 per cent, and Toronto’s rate decreased to 6.7 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in May.
Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates plans to show Niagara’s increasing unemployment rate to Premier Kathleen Wynne when the provincial legislature resumes after the summer break, to “remind her what her policies are doing to Niagara — because we deserve better.”
“The increased unemployment rate is most definitely a disappointment, however, it’s not surprising,” Gates said.
“We regularly highlight some great job-creating opportunities for Niagara, like a closer timeline on weekday two-way GO train service, the construction of the new Niagara Falls hospital or returning gaming to the Fort Erie race track, but unfortunately the government has really dragged their feet.”
Welland MPP Cindy Forster, the New Democratic Party’s labour critic, suspects the problem could be the trend across the province for which full-time jobs are being replaced with low-wage, part-time jobs.
“In Niagara we had a much higher unemployment rate back in 2013, but still we’re higher than the provincial average and families are really being pushed to the brink by the fact that they don’t have permanent, full-time jobs that are secure. So many jobs are on a contract basis.”
In some cases, she said, it might not be worthwhile “to actually pay for gas to get to a service job in communities that have them.”
“Clearly something is not working,” Forster said. “This government has been in power for 14 years. Although they say they’ve created 560,000 jobs during their term, we know that the vast majority of those jobs are temporary, contract.”