Ontario Construction News staff writer
A new Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) report shows the province gained more than 338,000 jobs last year, ending the strongest two-year period for job growth on record. The annual unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 per cent.
Construction employment rose by 49,300 (or 9.2%). Health care and social assistance, one of the largest sources of employment in Ontario, saw job growth of 34,400 (3.8%) in 2022. Other services recorded a decline in employment of -5,600 (-2.2%) in 2022, marking the third year of persistent job loss.
Gains were seen in all age groups and were primarily full-time, private sector positions. Young workers (aged 15 to 24 years) recorded an 8.4 per cent rise in employment, the strongest pace of job growth compared to other major age groups.
Professional, scientific and technical services recorded the largest job gains for the second consecutive year.
However, hiring challenges continued, with a record 36.3 per cent of vacancies remaining unfilled for 90 days or longer and a record number of employees absent from work due to illness or disability.
With the CPI inflation rate reaching a 40-year high in 2022, real wages declined significantly with all metropolitan areas in Ontario saw increases in employment in 2022:
Belleville (14.8%), St. Catharines-Niagara (11.5%) and Kingston (8.1%) recorded the fastest job growth. Thunder Bay (1.3%), Hamilton (2.2%), and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (3.3%) showed slow rates of growth.