How many people are working, and where they are working, is subject to a number of factors: the economy, the financial health of various workplaces, even the time of the year.
According to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, Ontario's unemployment rate last month was 5.4 per cent, an improvement over the end of 2022's 5.6 per cent but higher than the national
5.0 per cent.
Those unemployment numbers differ greatly depending on where in the province you look, ranging from as low as 3.3 per cent in the Ottawa and Sudbury areas to as high as 6.6 per cent in the
Brantford area.
Where people are making a living has also changed in the past decade, with some industries seeing massive changes, while others have grown in pace with the population. Between January 2013
and January 2023, the sector with the biggest employment gains fall under the professional, scientific and technical services umbrella, with just under 290,000 more Ontario residents working in that
sector in the past decade.
So what exactly does that category include? Per the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)— the system used by Statistics Canada — that category includes a bevy of different jobs,
including legal services, scientific research, accounting, public relations and architecture.
While that seems like a disjointed category, the defining factor of the jobs that fall under this section are that they are dependent almost wholly on the worker’s skills and expertise, and typically
require some sort of post-secondary education.
On the flip side, the NAICS sector that saw that biggest employment losses is the ambiguously named “other services” category, with more than 30,000 fewer Ontario residents working in that area
between 2013 and 2023.
So what exactly is “other services?” According to Statistics Canada, this category includes those involved with mechanical repairs and maintenance, personal services such as laundry and pet care,
advocacy work and religious services.
