April 10, 2023, Ontario – The Ontario Construction Secretariat reported that employment throughout the province increased from 567,100 to 572,300 from February to March 2023. Labour force grew by an even larger amount from 602,400 to 622,700, resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate.
Unemployment in Ontario construction rose to 8.1 per cent in March, sitting above the overall Ontario unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent. This is the highest it’s been since January 2021, when it was 10.1 per cent, and similar to the pre-pandemic March 2019 unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent.
The Ontario Construction Secretariat reported that when looking at historic data outside of the pandemic era, the unemployment rate in construction tends to be highest from January-March.