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Ontario’s employment outlook continued to improve in August. In particular, Ontario and Toronto were hit hard during the pandemic, with many in the labour force experiencing unemployment or reduced employment. While case numbers are starting to rise again, employment continues to increase steadily. August marked the third straight month of employment gains for the province.
Here is a quick guide to Ontario’s employment outlook summary, compiled by our HR experts at Nova Staffing. All data is from the Ontario Government August 2020 Labour market report.
Employment Outlook
Ontario’s employment outlook continued to improve month by month after COVID-19 setbacks. Of the 12.3 million people in the province, 7.1 million are employed. This is up 2% or 141,800 jobs from July. This marks the third straight month of employment increases in the province.
Ontario’s unemployment rate also improved in August. Unemployment last month was at 10.6%, with 841,400 people out of work. This is a 0.7% decline from July, which saw an 11.3% unemployment rate.
Employment by Age
Age continues to play a role in employment. Ontario’s youth labour force was hit the hardest by the pandemic and is slower to recover compared to other age brackets. Youth employment did slowly improve in August by 16,400 jobs. They do have the highest unemployment rate at 27.7% though.
Adult employment in people aged 25-54 also increased by 86,200 in August. Unemployment in adults was at 7.6% in August, down from 8.8% in July. Senior employment added 39,200 jobs in August, but the unemployment rate increased to 8.5% from 7.8% in July.
Employment by Sector
Job sectors continue to rebound from COVID-19 at different levels. Many are recovering nicely and seeing steady employment gains. In August, Accommodations and Food Services led employment gains with 32,800 new jobs. It was followed by Education Services with 30,100 new jobs, which makes sense considering it is back to school season. Next was Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (+21,500) and Healthcare and Social Assistance (+19,900).
Not every industry saw job increases in August, though. Construction led employment loss with 15,200 fewer jobs than the months previous. It was followed by Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (-6,200), Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Quarrying, and Oil (-2,200) and Transportation and Warehousing (-1,400).
Employment by Region
Different regions in Ontario have been experiencing employment gains at different rates. Urban areas such as Toronto were hit the hardest but have been bouncing back nicely. St. Catharines and the Niagara region had the most employment gains with a 4.7% increase. Windsor followed with a 4.6% increase. Toronto came in at third with 4.2%, followed by Thunder Bay (3.9%), Oshawa (3.6%), Kingston (2.9%).
If you’re looking for employment or are a business that is looking for staffing solutions, contact us today! Nova Staffing is one of the top employment agencies in Toronto and has a team of HR experts that can help you. Our team boasts over 100 years of combined industry experience, and we have professionals that speak English, French, Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin, Arabic, and Urdu.
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