Local jobless rate up 1.1 per cent in October, rising to 6.9 per cent
The local unemployment rate rose 1.1 per cent in October according to monthly job statistics released by Statistics Canada Friday.
The rate climbed to 6.9 per cent in October compared to 5.8 per cent in September.
“I don’t put too much emphasis on just one month’s figures and I think a lot of that increase comes from Chrysler’s minivan plant having a slow down last month,” said Matt Marchand, president of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“I think with the Chrysler workers back to work that number will go down again.”
There were 161,600 people employed last month compared to 164,100 in September.
However, FCA’s Windsor minivan plant was shutdown for four weeks beginning Oct. 2 idling 6,000 workers.
The plant was shuttered as the company made adjustments to production in light of changes to U.S. safety regulations on airbags in the 2017 Dodge Caravan models.
Marchand said local companies in the agricultural, manufacturing and automotive sectors are continuing to report they’re busy.
Companies are looking to hire, but finding skilled labour remains an obstacle that Marchand said costs the local economy $600-million annually.
“Fifty per cent of our members are reporting it’s tough to find people,” Marchand said. “It’s the same old issue of jobs without people and people without jobs.”
Marchand said what’s more concerning is last month’s participation rate in the workforce for those 18 to 65 dropped to 60.7 per cent.
“That tells me people are being left behind,” Marchand said. “We needed to get more people skilled up to match the job opportunities we have. We need to do a better job of that.”
Nationally the unemployment rate remained at 5.8 per cent while the provincial rate dipped 0.1 to 5.7 per cent.
Ontario added 5,200 jobs last month, the fourth straight month of gains. In the past 12 months, the province has added 149,200 jobs.
However, Marchand said his concern is about the quality of those jobs.
“We still haven’t fully recovered from the manufacturing jobs that left 10 years ago,” Marchand said. “We’re recovering, but we’re still down a net 75,000 manufacturing jobs.”
According to Statistics Canada, the Windsor metropolitan area added 9,300 jobs from 2008 to 2016, an increase of six per cent.
The next few months will also prove worth watching closely with the NAFTA negotiations rumbling on as well as the Jan. 1 introduction of a higher minimum wage and several other labour law changes.
“The risk for our members is our cost structures are going up significantly,” Marchand said.
“The cost of electricity, the addition of a carbon tax, the minimum wage going up and what’s happening across the border (with trade barriers and corporate tax cuts) is eating away at our competitive advantages,” Marchand said.
“If we keep piling on the costs and regulations, what Ontario story will we have to sell?”