The data included here is before Hamilton and Ontario entered it’s third lockdown, and as we can see Hamilton’s labour market conditions improved steadily in March, with the unemployment rate reaching its lowest point since the pandemic started to 6.4%. It is only 1.5 percentage points above the pre-pandemic rate. This rate is lower than the Ontario figure which is at 7.5%.
In March Hamilton saw an increase of 6,500 jobs bringing us closer to the pre-pandemic employment level with 98% of jobs being recovered. This percent is similar to Ontario, as 98% of jobs have recovered across Ontario too.
Industries
Top Growing Industries – Month over Month Change
Information, culture and recreation +3,500 jobs
Educational services + 3,000
Professional, scientific and technical services +2,500
Top Declining Industries - Month over Month Change
Construction -5,000 jobs
Wholesale and retail trade -3,500
Public administration -2,100
The Information, culture and recreation industry saw the most job gains from the previous month, growing by 3,500 jobs. Construction saw the most job losses in March from the previous month, decreasing by 5,000 jobs. This sector saw good job growth during the pandemic but has slowed recently and with the ensuing lockdowns it likely will decline further.
Please note: Hamilton data is a three-month moving average while Ontario data is monthly seasonally adjusted data. This may explain some of the discrepancy between the two figures. Local data is determined this way to smooth out any monthly numbers which can be quite variable. The overall trends are still valid.
