A recent economic report by the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) revealed that construction employment contracted -0.9 per cent year-over-year in April, in stark contrast to the 3.8 per cent year-over-year increase in the labour force.
The OCS says this caused an atypical jump in the unemployment rate to 10.1 per cent and noted that employment for women was down once again, at -17 per cent year-over-year, whereas for men, it increased slightly at 1.8 per cent year-over-year.
April employment was down -0.9 per cent year-over-year versus a 3.8 per cent year-over-year climb in the labour force. This was the main cause of a jump in the unemployment rate from 9.5 per cent in March to 10.1 per cent in April and was the highest unemployment rate in the past 10 years, outside of 2020.
Ontario overall unemployment rate was down slightly, sitting at 7.7 per cent compared to the 7.8 per cent from March. The OCS noted that it seems that so far, Ontario’s economy has held up in the face of the uncertainty from the trade war.
Women’s employment decreased -17 per cent year-over-year, similar to the -16 per cent year-over-year seen in March. This decrease was once again heavily within the 55+ age category.
Men’s employment increased 1.8 per cent year-over-year and labour force increased 7.1 per cent year-over-year. However, employment and labour force for men aged 55+ and older also contracted -9.8 per cent year-over-year and -8.5 per cent year-over-year, respectively.