Labour Market Bulletin Sault Ste. Marie and Area

Labour Market Bulletin, Second Quarter 2006
An Analysis of the Sault Ste. Marie and Area Labour Market
Service Canada

An overview of the area served by the Service Canada Centre of Sault Ste. Marie, including Sault Ste. Marie, Elliot Lake, Blind River, Wawa, and St. Joseph Island.

Labour market conditions in the Sault Ste. Marie management area continued to strengthen through the second quarter of 2006. The strong Canadian dollar and rising energy costs clouded the picture slightly, especially for smaller manufacturing entities. Michigan Maple and Arc Tube were both affected by these issues. However, larger manufacturers such as Algoma Steel and Tenaris Algoma Tubes which have had several consecutive profitable years, are both indicating substantial hiring activity on the horizon, especially in the area of skilled trades. Several national retail and restaurant chains announced plans to open in Sault Ste. Marie, showing their confidence in the economic health of the community.

Advertised job vacancies were up by over 50 per cent compared to the same time last year. Regular Employment Insurance claims continued a slow, but steady pattern of decline.

The Northeastern Ontario labour market showed modest improvement in the second quarter of 2006, but overall, remained weaker than the second quarter of 2005.

Highlights:

Algoma Steel reports its twelfth consecutive quarterly profit.
Northern Breweries facing bankruptcy.
Michigan Maple closes its Sault plant; 22 jobs lost.
Arc Tubes closing; 65 jobs to be eliminated.
More big-box/national restaurant chains coming to Sault Ste. Marie.
Modest improvement in Northeastern Ontario labour market.
Employment Insurance claimload continues to drop.
Record level of advertised jobs for a second quarter.

The complete Labour Market Bulletin, including these Highlights, is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, print version (size: 992 kb)

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