BARRIE

Barrie`s unemployment rate remains among the highest in Canada: Statistics Canada

KC Colby CTV Barrie

K.C. Colby CTVNews.ca Barrie Weather Anchor/Videographer

Published Monday, August 13, 2018 6:48PM EDT

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Barrie had the fourth highest unemployment rate among Canadian cities in July.

The latest numbers released by Statistics Canada showed the jobless rate in July was 7.0 per cent, up from 6.9 per cent in the previous month.

Tyler Colatosti has been looking for plumber work for almost two years now.

“They’re looking for two or three years’ experience and not guys who just got out of school. How are you supposed to get experience if you can’t find work,” said Colatosti.

Barrie only trails St. John's (9.0), Calgary (7.9) and Saskatoon (7.1).

St. Catharines-Niagara had the same jobless rate as Barrie last month.

Mayor Jeff Lehman says there is good reason for the city’s jobless rate edging up.

“The population is growing quickly, but jobs are also growing quickly,” said Lehman. “We actually had 2,300 more people find jobs in June and July, but the labour force also grew by 2,700 people; so you had the unemployment rate actually tick up.”

Lehman addes that information he has received about the local labour force suggests that for every company expecting to layoff this fall, four are planning to hire.

Overall, the Canadian economy generated 54,100 net new jobs last month and saw its unemployment rate fall -- but the headline improvements overshadowed weaker details: a rush of new part-time, public sector positions and a drop in full-time work.

The overall July increase in jobs pushed the unemployment rate back to its four-decade low of 5.8 per cent, down from six per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey said Friday.

But a closer look at the numbers revealed that the country gained 82,000 less desirable, part-time positions last month -- and it lost 28,000 full-time jobs. The public sector made the biggest contribution to the July increase with 49,600 new jobs, while the private sector added 5,200 positions.

By industry, the goods-producing sector lost 36,500 jobs in July, with a notable loss of 18,400 positions in manufacturing and a drop of 12,300 in construction.

The services sector saw strong gains last month with a combined net increase of 90,500 jobs, which was led by 30,700 positions in health care and social assistance as well as 36,500 in education.

Across the provinces, Ontario gained 60,600 jobs -- all in part-time work -- and the unemployment rate dropped 0.5 percentage points to 5.4 per cent for its lowest reading since July 2000. The education jobs fuelled much of the gain in Ontario, Statistics Canada said.

Employment also rose in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, while Saskatchewan and Manitoba lost jobs last month.

More women between the ages of 25 and 54 years old were working in July as the category saw a gain of 30,300 jobs.

The youth unemployment rate -- representing workers aged 15 to 24 years old -- fell to 11.1 per cent, down from 11.7 per cent in June. The report said the main cause of the drop was due to the fact fewer young people were looking for work.

Compared with a year earlier, overall employment was up 1.3 per cent following the addition of 245,900 jobs for an increase driven by 210,500 new full-time positions.

Statistics Canada released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):