Niagara unemployment rate in January the lowest in decades

Niagara Region’s employment stats in January were certainly hotter than the weather outside.

The region’s unemployment dropped a mere 4.3 per cent, the lowest recorded in all available comparable data going back to March 2006.

The number of people working in Niagara were at 231,000, below the peak seen of 245,500 in April 2022, but with the exception of that month, it’s a larger number than either before or during the pandemic.

What is referred to as the participation rate – the number of people either working or actively seeking jobs – is unchanged, leading analysts to believe there may still be workers in Niagara who could be enticed back into the workforce.

In a cause-and-effect scenario, because the unemployment rate has dropped, the fight for workers intensifies for employers who have to examine both better wages and non-monetary benefits such as flexible scheduling.