Unemployment rate rebound ‘encouraging’

Niagara’s unemployment rate appears to be rebounding after several months of creeping upwards.

Statistics Canada released its Labour Force Survey results for July on Friday, showing a drop in Niagara’s unemployment rate to 6.6 per cent – down from 7.2 per cent in June.

It’s the lowest it has been in Niagara since March when the rate was stable at about 6.4 per cent.

And judging by the hundreds of yet-to-be-filled jobs listed with the John Howard Society’s Job Gym, executive director Jay Gemmell is “cautiously optimistic” that the region’s unemployment rate will continue to drop in the months to come.

“We have been busy,” Gemmell said.

“We still have 450 jobs on our jobs on our site. Even though there has been considerable uptake to make that (unemployment) number go down, we think there’s still opportunity for that number to continue down.”

Unemployment rate fluctuations are common in areas with busy tourist industries like Niagara. Despite that trend, Gemmell said he remains encouraged by the “good reservoir of jobs” that are still available, including many that are not tourism related.

“There were a lot of other jobs there that had the potential for longer term, higher skilled, less precarious employment,” he said. “I think it’s encouraging that this trend, if you extrapolate, there’s no reason to believe that it wouldn’t continue.”

The Labour Force Survey also says total employment in the region increased to 200,200 in July, compared to 197,900 a month ago, a difference of 2,300.

“The numbers were as predicted across the country and it’s in step with what we saw with the increase in the interest rate. We are moving forward,” Gemmell said.

While the national unemployment rate dropped to 6.3 per cent in July, down from in 6.5 per cent a month earlier, Niagara’s neighbouring communities saw slight increases.

Hamilton’s unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in July, compared to 5.2 in June; and Toronto’s rate was 6.9 per cent, up from 6.7.