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Despite Premier Doug Ford claiming Ontario’s “Open for Business,” there’s a problem. Unemployment has jumped to some of the highest levels in a decade. Last Friday's newest jobs survey shows Ontario’s unemployment increased to 7.6 per cent, the highest spike across Canada. Excluding the COVID pandemic years, Ontario’s unemployment is around the highest levels since 2014.
Nationwide unemployment has generally increased over the last few months. However, Ontario’s unemployment rate at 7.6 per cent is one of the highest in the country. Canada’s unemployment peaked in November, when nationwide unemployment jumped to 6.8 per cent. Overall, the numbers have steadied, and Canada's unemployment has fallen to 6.6 per cent as of January 2025.
Despite the rebound in other provinces, Ontario’s unemployment has stayed much higher than the national average. Stats Canada found that the jobs losses were largely concentrated in manufacturing, where Ontario lost around 20,000 jobs in November.
So, is Ontario open for business? Since Ford took office in 2018, Ontario is losing jobs. Ford had campaigned on creating 300,000 new jobs, but Ontario has lost around 195,000 full-time jobs since he’s taken office. Compared to similar provinces like Quebec and British Columbia, Ontario’s unemployment is much higher and the trend is not changing.
“The decline in November was concentrated in Ontario, where manufacturing employment fell by 20,000,” Stats Canada wrote in the December job survey. Although the latest survey shows a rebound of 11,000 jobs added in manufacturing, Ontario’s construction (-1.3) and manufacturing (-0.8) are still down thousands of jobs year over year.
The recent labour survey also shows that Ontario’s cities have higher unemployment than those in comparable provinces. Large cities like Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor, and Kitchener have unemployment above the national average, while other metropolitan cities in the country have kept unemployment steady. As of January, Toronto’s unemployment is one of the highest in the country at 8.7 per cent, while Montreal has been steady at 6.1 per cent, and Vancouver, 6.8 per cent.
The Labour Force Survey is a monthly economic indicator by Stats Canada that provides information on the labour force. It draws on data from employment surveys covering job numbers, payroll, employment insurance claims, job vacancies among others to calculate the data.
Although Ontario posted 205,000 new jobs in 2024, job gains were largely concentrated in part-time employment. At the same time, year over year, Ontario’s goods-producing sectors, like construction and manufacturing, are down thousands of jobs and overall unemployment is one of the highest in the country.