New data from Statistics Canada, aimed at giving a better picture of how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting jobs, is showing Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth are faring worse than first thought.
The Four County Labour Market Planning Board says the unemployment rate is 9.6 per cent in June, much better than the provinces 12.5 per cent.
But Executive Director Gemma Mendez-Smith says when you look at the underutilization rate for April, we are actually lagging behind the province.
"While the rising unemployment rate continues to reflect layoffs due to COVID-19, the underutilization rate gives us a broader understanding of how workers in our regional are being impacted by the pandemic," said Mendez-Smith.
The underutilization rate looks not only at the number of people out of work and looking for a job, but also those who are employed but have seen their hours cut or eliminated.
"Of the total labour force, 37.4 per cent of our economic region fit into either one of those two categories," Mendez-Smith said.
Provincially, the underutilization rate was 36.6 per cent.
"We know that (our economy) is highly dependent on the hospitality and tourism economy," Mendez-Smith explained. "And some of those economies and businesses aren't quite back to operating at any kind of normalcy and may not be for a while."
Overall 32,00 full-time jobs were lost in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth Counties in June, offset by part-time gains of 1,100 jobs. The greatest losses were in the goods-producing sector that saw a drop of 1,900 positions; 1,200 in construction and 800 in agriculture.