The head of Workforce Windsor-Essex says he was really impressed by the job numbers for the region in February.
Chief Executive Officer of Workforce Windsor-Essex Justin Falconer says the region has shown a lot of resilience as it added 600 net new jobs in February, and the working-age population grew by 400 people.
Falconer says that pushed the region's all-time high employment figures even higher to 242,900 individuals employed in the area.
The jobless rate in the Windsor area rose to 9.4 per cent in February after sitting at 9.1 per cent in January, the second highest unemployment in the country behind Red Deer, Alberta's 9.6 per cent.
Since being sworn into office, U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening tariffs against Canada and Mexico, but has delayed or paused the measures, including this past Wednesday after a meeting with The Big Three North American automakers.
Falconer says he was surprised the uncertainty caused by the Trump administration's tariff threats didn't impact the numbers more.
"We saw, certainly, in November, December, and January, a lot of really strong manufacturing growth in our region," he says. "From February 2025 to February 2024, we've added 12,600 manufacturing jobs in this region."
Falconer says despite the high unemployment rate, the numbers tell a different story after adding 400 working-age people to the community last month.
"We've also added 700 new people looking for work, so we gained 600 jobs, added 700 new people looking for work, and only 400 of them are actually net new people to the area. What that means is that more people that were previously not working, not looking for work, are coming back into the job markets," he says.
Falconer says there were some bright spots in February.
"A net increase of 1,300 jobs in construction, as well as in educational service, finance, insurance, and real estate. Those were sectors that had some wings and are growing in our community. Of course, there were some small losses in some of the other sectors," he says.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that the Canadian economy added just 1,100 jobs last month, falling short of economists' expectations and well below the 76,000 jobs added in January.
February's modest gains were enough to keep the unemployment rate steady at 6.6 per cent as the Canadian population grew at its slowest monthly pace since April 2022.