CORNWALL – The latest labour market information compiled by the Eastern Ontario Training Board and Statistics Canada shows the regional unemployment rate has increased to 7.2 per cent. The rate was six per cent last month.

Ontario’s unemployment rate increased by 0.9 per cent in the last month and sits at 5.4 per cent.

In SDG/Cornwall, more than 1,000 people were collecting Employment Insurance benefits in February 2023: 72 per cent of those were male.

The EOTB, which compiles information from StatsCan, the Ontario Labour Market Report, and Employment Ontario, reports on the SDG Counties, Prescott-Russell, and City of Cornwall labour market.

For February 2023, there were a total of 2,176 job postings in Cornwall/SDG, an increase of 137 from January. Full-time positions advertised accounted for 82.4 per cent of all jobs in the region, 91.4 per cent of the jobs were permanent positions.

Of the job postings, More than half (51 per cent) were for those with a university degree, or had college or apprenticeship backgrounds, 35 per cent required only a secondary school diploma.

Among the top occupations in demand in the region are transport truck drivers, retail sales, material handlers/logistics, personal support workers, and fast-food workers.

Customer service jobs led the region with 641 job postings, up 41 from last month.

Phillip Blancher, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Morrisburg Leader