Guelph has shown some general and employment trends that have been anticipated in some cases and surprising in others. The hardest hit age groups during the pandemic have been women over the age of 24 and both genders between the ages of 45 and 54. Men between the ages of 25 and 44, considered prime working age, have not seen the employment losses of their female counterparts. People in the 45 to 54 age bracket have seen their employment levels fall from 21,400 in March of 2020 to 17,000 in January of 2021. These losses are spread over both women and men and has been in mainly full-time roles. Women across all age groups are also removing themselves from the workforce at higher rates than their male counterparts in all age groups.

Waterloo Region has shown some general and employment trends that have been anticipated in some cases and surprising in others. The hardest hit age group during the pandemic has been the prime working group, often seen as between the ages of 25 and 44. This group had 157,000 employed in March 2020 before the pandemic and that number has fallen to 138,200 employed in January 2021. These losses are spread over both women and men and has been in mainly full-time roles. In addition to losing employment, this group has removed itself form the workforce at a higher rate than any other age group.

“Pathways to Success” is the theme of the 13th Annual Global Skills Conference being held on Tuesday March 2nd on Pheedloop. Focus for this year's event will be directed to navigating the online world of employment.