Greater Sudbury’s unemployment rate rose slightly in January to 5.7 per cent from 5.4 per cent in December, said Statistics Canada in its monthly Labour Force Survey.
Out of a potential workforce of 90,400 in Greater Sudbury, Statistics Canada reported 85,600 people are employed.
Greater Sudbury’s participation rate was 64 per cent in January.
In comparison, Greater Sudbury’s unemployment rate in January 2021 was 8.1 per cent.
Reggie Caverson, executive director of Workforce Planning for Sudbury and Manitoulin, said Greater Sudbury’s unemployment rate, on average, hovers around six per cent, so seeing it at 5.7 per cent isn’t a surprise.
“There are a lot of jobs that are available right now,” said Caverson. “I think the people that want to work and who are willing to work, probably are working. It’s nice to see the rate a bit lower, but we aren’t sure what the data is telling us.”
The statistics provided in the Labour Force Survey are only a tiny part of the employment picture, she said.
“There are many tiny pieces,” Caverson said. “We look at data all the time, and the unemployment rate is only just a piece of a much larger picture.”
While there are many jobs available right now, for a number of reasons, people just aren’t looking for work right now, she said, and more and more that people are choosing not to return to the workforce after being laid off during the pandemic.
For example, women who got laid off are staying home with their children after being forced to stay home with them when schools closed, said Caverson.
“Some families have decided they're just going to stay with one income because our spending has been so much lower during the pandemic,” she said. “That's why we don't put as much merit into just a number, because it's related to a whole bunch of other factors.
Other people have been able to survive off federal programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, and once those programs are no longer available, more people will be looking for work, she said.
Statistics Canada also reported that employment dropped by 1.9 per cent (or 146,000 jobs) in Ontario in January, which followed seven consecutive monthly gains totalling 6.1 per cent (or 433,000 jobs). The unemployment rate increased 1.2 percentage points to 7.3 per cent. Losses in January were predominantly in part-time work and among youth aged 15 to 24 and women aged 25 to 54. Industries most affected were accommodation and food services, followed by information, culture and recreation.
Canada’s unemployment rate increased for the first time since April 2021. The unemployment rate increased 0.5 percentage points to 6.5 per cent in January.
With the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, many jurisdictions had implemented stricter public health measures by the LFS reference week of Jan. 9 to 15. Capacity limits or closures had been re-introduced in retail stores and high-contact settings such as restaurants, bars, concert halls and gyms. Also, schools in several jurisdictions had switched to online learning.
January employment declines were driven by Ontario and Quebec, and accommodation and food services was the hardest-hit industry. Youth and core-aged women, who are more likely than other demographic groups to work in industries affected by the public health measures in place in January, saw the largest impacts.
As during previous waves of the pandemic, youth aged 15 to 24 were most affected by employment losses in January, reflecting the fact that they are more likely to work in industries directly affected by COVID-19 public health measures.
Absences from work due to illness or disability — that is, for any short or long term health-related reason — tend to follow a seasonal pattern, and typically peak in the winter, said Statistics Canada.
However, as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spread across the country, absences due to illness or disability reached record highs in January.
Specifically, 1 in 10 (10 per cent) employees were absent from their job for all or part of the January reference week due to illness or disability, approximately one-third higher than the average observed in the month of January from 2017 to 2019 (7.3 per cent).
Prior to January 2022, the highest level of absences due to illness or disability was 8.1 per cent in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (not seasonally adjusted).
LFS Highlights
-Employment declines in January during the fifth wave of the pandemic
-Employment fell by 200,000 (-1.0 per cent) in January, spread across both part-time (-117,000; -3.3per cent) and full-time (-83,000; -0.5 per cent) work.
-Total hours worked fell 2.2 per cent after being at pre-COVID levels in November and December 2021.
-The number of employed people who worked less than half their usual hours rose by 620,000 (+66.1 per cent) in January 2022, the largest increase since March 2020.
-Youth saw declines in both part-time (-93,000; -7.1 per cent) and full-time (-46,000; -3.5 per cent) work.
-Employment fell among women in the core working ages of 25 to 54, entirely in part-time work (-43,000; -4.3 per cent).
-All of the employment decline in January 2022 was among private sector employees (-206,000; -1.6 per cent).
-In January, 1 in 10 (10.0 per cent) employees were absent from their job due to illness or disability.
-Almost one-quarter of workers (24.3 per cent) reported that they usually work exclusively at home.
-Average hourly wages grew 2.4 per cent (+$0.72) on a year-over-year basis in January, down from 2.7 per cent in November and December 2021.
-Employment in services-producing industries fell by 223,000. Accommodation and food services (-113,000), information, culture and recreation (-48,000) and retail trade (-26,000) saw the largest declines.
