Greater Sudbury ranked 24th out of 33 major Canadian cities in BMO's labour force survey, which gauges the strength of the job market across the country.
While the jobless rate dropped last year in the city – from 6.8 per cent to 6.3 per cent – the survey takes into account several factors, such as population growth (up by 0.3 per cent) and how job prospects have changed over the last 12 months (up 2.5 per cent). Greater Sudbury moved up seven spots on the chart since 2017.
The only other Northern Ontario city on the list was Thunder Bay (21st), which has seen no population growth, but saw its jobless rate drop to 5.2 per cent, down almost a full percentage point compared to the same time in 2017. That helped the city rise eight spots on the list.
The top city on the list is Guelph, which boasts a jobless rate of 2.3 per cent – down 3.9 per cent compared to a year ago, with its population growing by 2.5 per cent. They were followed by Saskatoon, Kelowna, B.C., Kitchener and Halifax.
On the bottom were Brantford, which saw its jobless rise by 1.7 per cent to 6.4 per cent, Saguenay, Que., Trois Rivieres, Kingston and Sherbrooke.
Read the full report here.
