Local jobless rate of 3.1% among lowest in Canada

Hundreds of positions are available as employers struggle to fill openings

Peterborough can now boast of having the third lowest unemployment rate out of Canada’s 34 census metropolitan areas, thanks to hundreds of unfilled jobs and a shrinking available local labour force.

The Peterborough census metropolitan area’s jobless rate plunged to 3.1 per cent in November from 4.8 per cent in October, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Only Sherbrooke, Que. at 2.7 per cent and Quebec City at 3 per cent had lower November unemployment rates among the census metropolitan areas, the survey found.

The national unemployment rate held steady at 5.1 per cent in November while the Ontario rate fell to 5.5 per cent from 5.9 per cent.

Peterborough added 400 net new jobs in November while the available local labour force shrunk by 800 people in November, on top of 1,400 workers shed in October with the new school year underway and summer seasonal jobs coming to an end.

Peterborough’s labour force dropped to 70,200 available workers in November, down from 71,000 in October, with 68,000 of them employed, up from 67,600 a month ago, and 2,200 of them still looking for work, down from 3,400 a month ago and 4,000 in September, the Statistics Canada survey found.

Local employers are continuing to struggle to find available workers to fill all their job openings.

The online jobs site Indeed listed 1,234 job openings in Peterborough as of Friday while the federal government’s National Job Bank had 339 Peterborough postings, down a bit from the listings posted a month ago.

The survey also pegs the November population of the Peterborough census metropolitan area at 115,000, which is up by 1,400 people from a year ago.

The local Statistics Canada figures are for the Peterborough census metropolitan area, which includes the city, the four surrounding townships of Cavan Monaghan, Selwyn, DouroDummer and Otonabee-South Monaghan, along with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.

Statistics Canada jobless figures are based on surveys adjusted to a three-month rolling average and are seasonally adjusted.

Because of its size, Peterborough has a smaller sample size than the other cities, which Statistics Canada warns can cause variability in the sampling.

Peterborough added 400 net new jobs in November while the available local labour force shrunk by 800 people