Figures in rural Ontario are almost back to pre-COVID-19 levels
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Rural Ontarians are working at almost the same rate as they were before the pandemic struck.
Between July and August, employment in Ontario’s rural communities rose by 1.5 per cent, new data from the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) said.
Comparing August’s figures to August 2019, employment in rural Ontario is down 0.6 per cent.
For context, rural employment in Alberta is down by almost 21 per cent and by almost 14 per cent in Quebec during the same time period.
Nationally, rural employment is down 7.7 per cent.
“The bounce back (in Ontario) is almost complete,” Norman Ragetlie, the executive director of ROI, told Farms.com. “I think the speed of the bounce back is really impressive. Overall, it’s all very encouraging.”
The ROI study used data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. Communities with fewer than 10,000 people were considered a rural or small town.
The information revealed where employment gaps remain in rural communities.
“Depending on what sector your local economy is specialized in, you might be experiencing different things,” Ragetlie said. “If you’re in a (community) where it’s very tourism-dependent, you saw pretty major impacts in your accommodation and food service industries.”
One notable finding from the report pertained to female employment in rural areas.
Females 55-years-old and over, and between the ages of 15 and 24, experienced lower levels of employment compared to women between 25 and 54 years of age.
Multiple factors could be at play as to why this is the case, Ragetlie said.
“This is something we should be tracking,” he said. “When (the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit) ends, and with schools reopening, that could change some of the data.”
ROI is awaiting Canadian labour data for September. Once the data is compiled, the organization will release another report.