Job demand decreased by 17 per cent in September. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.
The latest report from community organization Workforce Planning Hamilton (WPH) shows that the unemployment rate in the area has decreased heading into the autumn months.
The most recent data from September 2024 indicates that the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which includes the City of Hamilton, the City of Burlington, and the Town of Grimsby, saw unemployment decrease by 0.7 percentage points from 6.7 per cent in August to 6.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, job demand decreased by 17 per cent in September.
WPH analysts write, “Historically, the third quarter is a less active job opportunities period for job seekers, coming down from the peak hiring cycles in the spring and summer.”
However, they say that job demand in the retail sector is expected to pick up again in the fourth quarter of 2024 as the holidays approach.
But, there have also been declining job vacancies in the Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula year over year, potentially pointing to a larger trend.
The report says that, in Quarter 2 of 2024, the Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula saw job vacancies decline by 300 (down 26 per cent year-over-year).
In terms of industries, WPH data indicated that the Accommodation and Food Services industry saw the largest monthly gain in employment (up 6 per cent), followed by Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (up 3 per cent), and Healthcare and Social Assistance (up 2 per cent).
Industries that saw a monthly decline in employment were Utilities (down 18 per cent), Agriculture (down 13 per cent), and Transportation and Warehousing (down 5 per cent).
The top in-demand jobs for September 2024 in the City of Hamilton were Registered Nurses with 356 job postings followed by Retail Salespersons with 278 postings, Cooks (258), Store Shelf Stockers (224), and Food Service Jobs (200).
The median wage for Registered Nurses in the Hamilton-Niagara economic region is $42.00 per hour, while all of the other top in-demand jobs have a median wage of $17.20 per hour.
WPH says that, in September, there were also over 2,700 employers hiring in the Hamilton region.
The top hiring employers were McMaster University (614 jobs), Hamilton Health Sciences (216), the City of Hamilton (195), St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (106), and Kijiji Employers (95).
Of the 8,180 active job postings in September 2024, 6,565 (80.3 per cent) were for full-time positions and 1,615 (19.7 per cent) for part-time.
A total of 6,661 (81.4 per cent) were hiring for permanent positions, while 823 (10.1 per cent) were temporary, and 696 (8.5 per cent) on a contract.
The report also notes that the Ontario minimum wage was increased from $16.55 per hour to $17.20 per hour on Oct. 1, with the student wage increasing from $15.60 per hour to $16.20 per hour.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
