Windsor has the highest unemployment rate in Canada again - and men are the most impacted

Windsor has regained its position as the city with the highest unemployment rate in Canada, and it's disproportionately impacting men. 

New data from Statistics Canada places Windsor's unemployment rate at a seasonally adjusted three-month moving average of 11.2 per cent.

That's up from 10.8 per cent in May and 9.1 per cent in June of 2024.

Peterborough, which had previously moved into the No. 1 position, was second with a jobless rate of 10 per cent.

The lack of jobs disportionately impacts male workers, whose jobs tend to be more impacted by U.S. trade policy, says Justin Falconer, CEO of Workforce Windsor-Essex. And that trade policy contributes to Windsor's poor job numbers. 

"Windsor-Essex really is ground zero," he said.

"The employed persons numbers declined since February. We've seen unemployed persons increase since February. … The big event in February was, of course, the U.S. president coming into office."

The number of unemployed men between 25 and 54 is currently around 10,400 – higher than it was at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when it reached 9,700, Falconer said.  

"In Canada, about 8.8 per cent of working-age persons work in U.S.-dependent industries," he said.

"But when you break that down by gender, it's over 12 per cent [of men] working in U.S. dependent industries – 12.5 – whereas 4.7 per cent of women work in U.S. -dependent industries."

Unemployment is common in Windsor

High unemployment in Windsor isn't a new phenomenon.

The city had the highest unemployment rate in the country a year ago when the Biden administration was in office — and Canada was trading freely with the country.

But the reasons were different, Falconer said. For the past two years, job growth has simply failed to keep pace with a growing population of people drawn to the city by forecasts of economic prosperity, a desirable climate and proximity to the U.S. 

Since February, he said, the trend has started to reverse. 

For the first time in June, Windsor saw growth in unemployment without a corresponding growth in population.

 And there's a near-record-high number of people looking for work.

"The all-time high for unemployed persons, which happened in COVID, was about 35,000 people," Falconer said.

"We are on the doorstep of that with about 30,000 people right now."

As for those U.S.-dependent jobs, they tend to be good ones, so the loss is felt, Falconer said. 

"The average wage of a person working in a U.S.-dependent … industry… in 2024 was estimated to be $37.24, which is 6.5 per cent higher than what the national hourly wage rate would have been. So these are good paying jobs."

A worker in a U.S. trade-dependent industry is also twice as likely to have a high school diploma or less as their highest level of educational attainment.  

Falconer said his and other organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, are doing what they can to support businesses impacted by the trade policies and are contemplating the best ways to support unemployed workers and help them find work.

There were some sectors of the economy where employment rose in Windsor-Essex in June, he said, notably in wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance and real estate and professional, scientific and technical services. 

Nationwide, employment grew in June by approximately 83,000 jobs, the first increase since January.

Unemployment fell by 0.1 of a percentage point to 6.9 per cent.

However, employment was concentrated in part-time work, the statistics agency said.

In Ontario, the unemployment rate stood at 7.8 per cent, showing little change from May.