Jobless rate spiked to 7% in November

Windsor’s monthly labour force survey numbers were as grey and grim as the November weather.

The local unemployment rate rose 0.3 per cent to a 14-month high of 7.0 as 1,600 fewer people were working last month compared to October, according to Statistics Canada figures released Friday.

“There’s concern, but not alarm at this point,” said Justin Falconer, senior director for Workforce Windsoressex.

“At seven per cent, that’s higher than we’ve seen for awhile. It seems the job market is getting soft.

“We’ll need to see another few months to determine if November was a blip or the leading edge of something more.”

The Canadian unemployment rate rose 0.4 to 5.9 per cent with the loss of just over 71,000 jobs in November. That’s the biggest onemonth jump in a decade.

Ontario’s unemployment rate jumped 0.3 to 5.6 per cent despite the province adding 15,400 jobs, as 35,000 more people looked for work last month.

The number of unemployed locally climbed by 600 to 12,700 people. That total number represents an increase of 23.3 per cent year over year.

In comparison, London’s unemployment rate dropped 0.4 to 5.8 per cent while the number of people working grew by 5,500 to 257,900.

“Windsor’s population growth is certainly stressing these numbers,” said Falconer, noting there were another 500 people who moved to the region last month bringing the Windsor metropolitan area’s population to 297,000.

“We’re still having people coming to Windsor looking for work. These numbers will also reflect international students looking for work.”

In the past year, the Windsor area has grown by 5,400 newcomers and by 10,000 since the beginning of 2018.

The local sectors feeling the biggest declines last month were food and accommodation, which lost 1,800 positions, and retail and wholesale trade, which shrunk by 1,200 jobs.

“If people are not spending, those are the sectors that feel the pinch first,” Falconer said. “Hopefully, there’ll be a Christmas bounce back in December.”

There was also a loss of 1,700 construction jobs, but Falconer said that was due largely to the seasonal nature of the industry.

Falconer said what’s muddying the waters in terms of trying to get a clearer picture of trends in the Windsor area is the resurgence of the manufacturing sector.

Across Canada, the manufacturing sector shed 28,000 jobs while Windsor added 1,100 manufacturing jobs in November. The local manufacturing sector has grown by 6,400 jobs in the last three months.

“That’s contrary to everyone else in the country,” Falconer said.

“We’re highly respected in manufacturing. We have a lot of automation and advance manufacturing in the region.

“The rest of the world is looking to become Industry 4.0 and that’s what we do here.”

Also encouraging is the job growth in the professional, scientific and technical services sector.

The sector grew by 1,200 jobs or 20 per cent in November to rise to 6,800 people. “The professional, scientific and technical services people coming in, these are the future of jobs here,” Falconer said.

“We need these people, the engineers and the like.

“These occupations are the canary in the coal mine of where your economy is going to be. They’re also drivers of spinoff businesses.”

The region also enjoyed solid job growth in health, education, law and government services.

Health grew by 1,300 positions and education, law and government services added 1,200 jobs.

“These are good public-sector jobs,” Falconer said. “That’s why I’m not alarmed. There are some good things below these (unemployment) numbers.”