What a difference a year makes when it comes to the Sault’s employment picture.
2018 saw sustained low unemployment coming in well below the 25-year average of 8.6%—-the average monthly rate came in at just 4.9%.
Last year featured double-digit unemployment for five straight months mid-year but thanks to lower numbers at the beginning and end of last year we finished exactly at the long-term average of 8.6%.
Algoma Workforce Investment Corporation Executive Director Jonathan Coulman offers a partial explanation of what continues to be a challenge…

The number of people employed in the Sault averaged 36-thousand last year just under the low term average of almost 37-thousand.

There’s a silver lining in the year-end job numbers.
Coulman says what is interesting when you break the numbers down further is the gains made in the youth numbers involving those 15 to 24…

Coulman suggests it could be the retirement of baby boomers leading to the improvement.

The latest monthly numbers in November places the youth unemployment rate at 9.8%—-that compares to the overall rate of 7.1%.
He says almost a quarter of the Sault’s workforce is over 55—-a significant number with a big transition ahead.