Labour Market Bulletin London

Labour Market Bulletin, Second Quarter 2006
An Analysis of the London and surrounding area Labour Market
Service Canada

An overview of London and surrounding area

As expected, the second quarter of 2006 brought a seasonal increase in both labour force and employment numbers across the area represented by the London Service Canada area. In the London-Woodstock area (Economic Region 560) over 15,000 more people were employed in June compared to March – an increase of 4.7%. Almost 95.0% of these employment gains were in full-time positions. Current employment levels of 333,400 are the highest for the month of June on record. Improved employment levels and fewer people unemployed resulted in the unemployment rate falling in the tri-county area to 5.2% in June from 7.0% in March. The Windsor-Sarnia area (Economic Region 570) recorded seasonal gains as well. Employment climbed to a record 322,200 workers in June – an increase of over 6,000 full-time positions from March. A drop in the number of unemployed people – down over 3,000 – translated into the unemployment rate in the border area falling to 7.7% from 8.6% in March. In Economic Region 560, the majority of employment gains were recorded in the youth and older worker sectors. In Economic Region 570, most of the employment increase was seen in the 25 to 44 year age bracket.

Note: Economic Region 560 consists of Middlesex, Elgin and Oxford counties. Economic Region 570 includes the Essex, Kent and Lambton tri-county area. This data is now included. Please refer to the Labour Force Trends sections for additional analysis. Information for the Goderich area is included in Economic Region 580, which covers Perth, Huron, Grey and Bruce counties. Due to a change in our service area, this information is now available in the Owen Sound Labour Market Bulletin. Please see the Notes to Readers section on page 14 for more detail.

Highlights:

The latest Ontario Construction Looking Forward report states that a number of major local industrial projects will offset a decline in new home construction.
If approved, up to 1,100 tradespersons could be employed for 18 to 24 months installing scrubber units at the Lambton Generating Station.
Ford Motor Co. in St. Thomas is canceling 142 buyout offers. In addition, the line speed will remain at 55 vehicles per hour.
About 45 non-unionized workers were hired at the new Hino Motors Ltd. truck plant in Woodstock.
Close to 200 new positions will be created when the third Angelo’s location opens in the fall.
Nearly 100 people were hired for the new Boston Pizza outlet at the Woodstock Square commercial facility. Additional hirings will take place for a new Winners and Pet Crazy store.
With provincial funding, Fanshawe College will create 115 more spaces for students in the co-op diploma apprenticeship training program.
In May, major wage settlements across Ontario ranged from an average 3.1% in the public sector to 2.7% in the private sector.

The complete Labour Market Bulletin, including these Highlights, is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, print version (size: 502 kb)

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