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Ontario’s employment continued to improve in December 2021, making it the seventh consecutive month the province saw employment increase. This was despite COVID-19 restrictions coming into place late in the month due to the Omicron variant.
Here is a look at how employment in Ontario was impacted in December 2021, compiled by our employment experts at Nova Staffing. All data is from the Ontario Government December 2021 Labour Market report.
Employment Summary
In December, Ontario had 7.7 million (61.6%) employed individuals, up 46,900 (0.6%) jobs from November. Overall, the province was 2.1% (160,600 jobs) above its pre-COVID-19 February 2020 levels.
As employment increased, unemployment in Ontario dropped. In December, there were 491,900 unemployed individuals in the province, down 5.1% from the 519,100 unemployed individuals in November.
Employment by Age
Youth employment (15-24) saw an increase of 18,800 in December, following a decline in the previous month. Unemployment for this demographic dropped to 10.8%, down from 11.4% in November.
Adult employment (25-54) also saw an increase of 28,500 new jobs in December, meaning this age group was 3.3% above its pre-COVID levels. Unemployment for adults dropped from 5.1% in November to 5.0% in December. Senior employment (55+) had no significant employment change in December, but unemployment for this demographic did drop 6%, down from 6.9% from the previous month.
Employment by Sector
Employment sectors continued to gain at different rates in December 2021. Those that saw the greatest employment gains in Ontario were led by Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (+96 K), and followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade (+59.2 K), Information, Culture, and Recreation (+39.3 K), and Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, Rental and Leasing (+36 K).
Ontario industries that saw the greatest employment loss in December were Accommodation and Food Services (-50.5 K), Other Services (Except Public Administration) (-45.9 K), Business, Building, and Other Support Services (-31.3 K), and Construction (-17.8 K).
Employment by Region
Fourteen of Ontario’s CMAs saw employment growth in December. The regions that saw the greatest growth was Toronto (+210.7 K), followed by Windsor (+31.2 K), London (+25.9), Hamilton (+20.0 K), Ottawa-Gatineau (+18.6 K), Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (+17.2 K), Oshawa (+11.6 K), Guelph (+10.2 K), St. Catharines-Niagara (+9.8 K), Peterborough (+8.4 K), Barrie (+4.4 K), Greater Sudbury (+2.7 K), Thunder Bay (+2.2 K), and Belleville (+0.8 K).
The two Ontario regions that saw employment loss in December were Kingston (-1.7 K) and Brantford (-0.6 K).
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