December 2020 Labour Market Update

The latest Statistics Canada local labour market report customized for the Brantford CMA for last month is now available.

December Unemployment Rate: Brantford 6.1% [-] Ontario 9.5% [+] Canada 8.6% [+]

Be sure to review the participation rate and the employment rate (reported as percentages), as well as the labour force, the employed, and the unemployed values (reported as absolute numbers). These give a better picture of changes in the market.

Labour Market Reports

The report includes annual rates for the last 10 years, comparing Brantford to surrounding CMAs as well as the provincial and national levels.

Overview from Statistics Canada

Visit the Statistics Canada page for full information.

Employment falls for the first time since April

Employment fell by 63,000 (-0.3%) in December—the first decline since April.

Part-time employment declined by 99,000 (-2.9%) in December, led by losses among youth aged 15 to 24 (-58,000; -5.1%) and those aged 55 and older (-27,000; -3.0%).

By December, 1.1 million Canadian workers were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown—in the form of lost employment or reduced hours—compared with 5.5 million in April.

Self-employment fell by 62,000 in December, while the number of employees in both the public and private sectors was little changed.

As more provinces adapted their public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, total hours worked declined for the first time since April, falling 0.3% in December.

As the number of COVID-19 cases increased in the fall, the share of Canadians working from home trended up, reaching 28.6% in December.

Unemployment rate holds steady

The unemployment rate was 8.6% in December, essentially unchanged from 8.5% in November.

In December, the unemployment rate of Canadians aged 15 to 69 who belong to a population group designated as a visible minority was little changed at 9.9% (not seasonally adjusted).

The participation rate declined for the second month in a row in December, falling 0.2 percentage points to 64.9%.

First employment decline for the services-producing sector since April

Employment in the services-producing sector fell by 74,000 (-0.5%) in December—the first decline in the sector since April.

Employment decreased in accommodation and food services; other services; and information, culture and recreation industries. All three industries were impacted by public health measures.

Although manufacturing employment increased (+15,000; +0.9%), employment in the goods-producing sector as a whole was little changed in December.

Labour market conditions vary across provinces, reflecting differences in public health measures

Employment declined in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island and held steady in the other six provinces.

Employment matched its pre-COVID February level only in Newfoundland and Labrador and was furthest below its February level in Alberta (-5.4%) and Manitoba (-5.8%).

Youth employment falls farther from pre-COVID levels

Employment among youth aged 15 to 24 fell by 1.1% (-27,000) in December, with losses in part-time employment (-58,000; -5.1%) partially offset by gains in full-time work (+32,000; +2.7%).

Employment remained farther from pre-pandemic levels for youth (-10.5%) than for all other demographic groups in December, with female youth (-12.1%) continuing to be harder hit than their male counterparts (-8.8%).

Among the core-aged population (25 to 54 years old), both total employment and the unemployment rate were little changed in December.

Employment was closer to its pre-COVID level for the core-aged population than for all other age groups, with employment 1.8% below February levels.

The unemployment rate for Canadians aged 55 and older rose 0.8 percentage points in December to 7.9%.

Over the past several months, employment has remained further below pre-pandemic levels among Indigenous people compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. This continued in December, with employment among Indigenous Canadians 7.8% below February levels, compared with 2.1% below for non-Indigenous Canadians (not seasonally adjusted).

Local Top Line

• December Unemployment Rate: Brantford 6.1% [-] Ontario 9.5% [+] Canada 8.6% [+]
• The local unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 month over month.
• The local labour force contracted by 1,000 month over month.
• The number of employed decreased by 700 month over month.
• The number of unemployed decreased by 400 month over month.
• When compared to the surrounding CMAs of Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo, Guelph, and London, Brantford’s unemployment rate is second lowest.

Note: Brantford's unemployment reflects a 3 month moving average, whereas Ontario and Canada are monthly figures. The sample CMA breakdown for Brantford area is detailed in text at the Stats Canada website: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3VD.pl?Function=getVD&TVD=117159&CVD=117161&CPV=543&CST=01012011&CLV=2&MLV=3