Labour Market Reports

Understanding our local labour market involves understanding employment trends along with unemployment rates.

Our labour reports are based on data from Statistics Canada. They represent employment information for the Brantford labour market including comparative unemployment rates, population statistics, labour force numbers, participation rates, and more.

To access the report, select a report for the time period you want. The file is in PDF format and requires a program such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to be viewed.

Revisions to Labour Force Survey data

Following each census cycle, Labour Force Survey (LFS) data are revised to ensure alignment with the most recently available population estimates, geographic boundaries, and occupation and industry classifications. This standard revision process—which has little impact on key labour market indicators such as employment and the unemployment rate—ensures that the LFS continues to paint a complete and accurate picture of labour market conditions. Read more on the Statistics Canada website.

May and COVID-19

Statistics Canada provided in-depth insights and commentary on the labour market changes last month in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit our labour market update news article to read more on this.

Tracking the unemployment rate

The following unemployment graph reflects the latest data released by Statistics Canada. Be sure to use the full monthly labour market reports below that also include the participation rate and the employment rate (reported as percentages), as well as the labour force, the employed, and the unemployed values (reported as absolute numbers). These associated data sets give a better picture of changes in the market.

Monthly labour market reports

Our monthly compiled reports provide historical data based on the time of release from Statistics Canada. These reports also include annual rates for the last 10 years, comparing Brantford to surrounding Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) as well as the provincial and national levels. Brantford's numbers reflects a three month moving average, whereas Ontario and Canada are monthly figures. The sample CMA breakdown for Brantford area is detailed in text at the Statistics Canada website. Historical data from the Labour Force Survey completed by Statistics Canada was revised in January 2015.

Brantford CMA Labour Market Report

Historical unemployment rates

The following represents historical data that can be used to compare current trends with past periods.

BMO regional labour market report card

We also compile the quarterly CMA Rankings for the Regional Labour Market Report Card (PDF) from BMO Economics. These reports provide a national snapshot of the regional labour markets across Canada for tracking and comparing.

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