As London area booms, working-age population passes 500K: StatsCan

Article content

Buried deep in just-released Statistics Canada figures is the latest sign of the London region’s booming growth: Its working-age population has crossed the 500,000 mark for the first time.

That, however, is more a reflection of the speeding growth of London’s census metropolitan area – which also includes St. Thomas, Strathroy and parts of Elgin and Middlesex counties – than of any surge in employment, says one expert who keeps close watch on local demographics.

“You’re seeing that the population is actually growing quite a bit more rapidly, and the number of people employed has sort of stabilized,” Don Kerr of Western University’s King’s University College said, noting the Statistics Canada working-age headcount goes from age 15 to beyond the typical retirement age, 65.

“You can actually see a slight decline in the employment rate, even of people of prime working age, (it) has gone down slightly.”

The workforce figures published Friday show 508,000 working-age people in and around London. Kerr, however, notes that just shy of 400,000 of them are of typical working age (15-64) and 103,000 are 65 and older.

Kerr’s point about labour force stabilization is reflected in the London-area jobless rate for February, which ticked up slightly to 5.9 per cent, a level that’s barely moved up or down since October.

The London-area’s participation rate, the percentage of the adult population either working or looking for work, also fell slightly, coming to rest at 65.9 per cent in February from 66.3 per cent the month before.

Elsewhere in Southwestern Ontario:

• Windsor’s jobless rate ticked up 0.2 percentage points to 7.4 per cent
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo’s jobless rate area went down 0.1 percentage points to 6.7 per cent

Ontario’s February unemployment rate rose to 6.5 per cent last month from 6.2 per cent in January. The national unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 5.8 per cent.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

London’s monthly jobless numbers (2023-24)

• January 2023 – 5 per cent
• February – 5.1 per cent
• March – 4.8 per cent
• April – 4.4 per cent
• May – 4.4 per cent
• June – 4.5 per cent
• July – 5 per cent
• August – 5.6 per cent
• September – 6 per cent
• October – 5.8 per cent
• November – 5.8 per cent
• December – 5.5 per cent
• January 2024 – 5.7 per cent
• February – 5.9 per cent