By Tom Parkin
BURLINGTON, ON
There were 5,800 fewer employed workers in Ontario in March than February, even as there were more employed workers in Canada as a whole, according to seasonally adjusted data released by Statistics Canada on Friday.
Only 8,205,500 Ontario workers were employed last month, 69,000 fewer than in December, when there were 8,274,500 employed workers.
Unemployed workers increased for a third consecutive month, now numbering 676,100. In March, there were 31,600 more unemployed Ontarians than January.
Job losses led by job cuts in schools and stores
While manufacturing and construction have been the focus of attention in previous months, those were not where the big job losses hit in March. The number of employed workers in each sector fell only a few hundred workers last month. However, both are well below recent employment peaks set in January 2025.
In March, the hits landed hardest on Ontario service sector workers. StatsCan found there were about 35,000 fewer workers in wholesale trade and retailing, education, public service and accommodation and food services than in February.
The largest number of jobs lost, both in absolutely numbers and as a percentage, has been in the education sector. Private college employment has fallen after a funding model based on foreign student fees collapsed due to changes to student visa rules. Those changes plus government cuts have put several public colleges and universities under severe financial stress. And now school boards, many of which have been put under the direct administration of the Ford PCs, are terminating school staff.
The largest gain in employment was an additional 10,100 workers in professional and scientific jobs, though at 905,900 workers, the sector remains 12,300 jobs below the 918,200 workers in October 2025.
The Ontario economy is weak, but the big service sector losses point to a different cause than what headlines focus on. A loss of manufacturing jobs can be blamed on Trump. Fewer employed construction workers may be attributed to the housing market failure.
But big job losses at schools, stores, restaurants, bars and hotels are a different story, one almost certainly driven by actors and factors in Ontario, and one that has gone far less examined.
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I’m anticipating the economy, food inflation, and food bank use is going to have to get pretty bad before Liberal voters realize it’s not just Trump but rather poor government policy on many fronts.
Now as we watch colleges lay off workers as the foreign student program is scaled back due to the program debacle at the federal level. These workers are now hitting the job market in a slow economy and many likely won’t find work.
When every the government tries a “sugar fix” to the economy, it will eventually crash, just give it time.
Nasty. Doug Ford paints a tax payer funded completely different picture.
Carney keep it up !!! Just so terrible what’s happening!