Waterloo Region unemployment rate remains steady at 12.9 per cent

Waterloo Region's unemployment rate remains stable at 12.9 per cent, while other communities have seen deep decreases in the job sector.

There has also been an increase overall in the number of businesses operating in Waterloo Region from December 2019 to June 2020.

Charlene Hofbauer is the Executive Director of the Workforce Planning Board for Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin. 

She tells 570 NEWS there were 6,000 online job postings in the month of August in Waterloo Region. 

“Mainly in areas of retail, transportation, warehousing, health care and food services,” said Hofbauer. “We think there are some operations out there that are regrowing. They're finally getting to that point like food and accommodation services. Or they've sometimes just been in a continuous growing phase like health care.”

Hofbauer says they've also seen 7,000 people return back to the workforce, meaning more people are working or looking for work than in previous months. 

Forecasting ahead to the fall, she's not worried about a particular industry, but the size of the business itself.

“We've got a lot of small businesses that really need that support from the community in the form of buyers, they need support with other businesses doing business with them and they need support from their government to make sure they can stay open.”

Meanwhile, about 14% of employers in Waterloo Region plan on hiring over the last few months of 2020.

That from the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey which predicts a conservative hiring climate for the fourth quarter of 2020 in Waterloo Region.

The survey also finds 9% of employers are anticipating cutbacks with 74% looking to maintain current staffing levels.

You can read more about that here.