The employment numbers continue to look OK for Sault Ste. Marie given the impacts of COVID restrictions. Now that we are entering the summer months (typically a period of higher employment), job postings remain strong and, most importantly, COVID restrictions will be easing and we will hopefully see lots of pent-up demand for local businesses, the unemployment rate should fall in the coming months as it did in 2020.
- Unemployment rose in May but remains relatively low at 7.8% – which is more in line with Ontario and Canadian levels (9.3% and 8.2% respectively)
- Participation and Employment rates have fallen in recent months, but this is normal for this time of year. We should expect see levels of participation and employment start to climb in the coming months as we move into the summer months (at least in non-COVID times).
- The overall levels of employment have fallen as well, but again this is mainly due to lower employment numbers in Goods-Producing Occupations (manufacturing and construction), which is typical for the first part of the year. These employment levels should begin climb in the coming months.
- Online job postings in Sault Ste. Marie have risen significantly since February:
- As you might expect there is consistent demand for healthcare, essential retail and delivery related occupations;
- There is also an increase in postings related to seasonal and summer work such as construction (general labour) and student/summer related jobs;
- In a sign of the times, postings for teaching related occupations made the top 10 as tutoring platforms and school boards outside of the region are looking for resources to teach/support online learning.
You can find the whole summary in the following pdf.