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“One of the reasons rural wasn’t hit as hard and bounced back faster was that more jobs were in essential services” such as manufacturing, goods-producing and agriculture, he said.
Ragetlie said it’s not surprising to see employment numbers starting to plateau in the winter, especially as more COVID-19 restrictions began to come into effect in November.
The Rural Ontario Institute is a Guelph-based think tank that advocates for and offers programs to rural areas in the province.
The institute’s summary pulls data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.
In the November report, rural and small towns refer to places with a population of 10,000 or fewer.
Urban centres in Ontario also saw a decline in employment of 3.8 per cent in November.
Ontario’s 3.8 per cent decline in rural and small-town employment ranks the province third across Canada, with Manitoba seeing a 13.1 per cent decline and Alberta a 10.1 per cent decline.
Some industries hurt significantly in rural Ontario include health care and social assistance, which saw a decrease in employment of about 12,000; business, building and other support services, which dropped 7,000 jobs; and information, culture and recreation, which declined by 5,000 jobs.
Ragetlie said the job losses in health care and social assistance wouldn’t be hospital workers, but likely settings such as physiotherapy offices, which may be offering reduced services, or through the temporary closing of some adult day-programs.
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