are down from one year ago, even though the region’s population grew slightly and local businesses are clambering more than ever to find employees., which published its economic indicators for the first quarter of 2022.says the report includes cumulative statistics for nine key indicators from January through March.For instance, the region’s population grew to 229,400 in 2021, up from 223,622 in 2020 – a rise of 2.6 per cent.
However, the labour force fell 2.7 per cent, to 104,700 from 109,433 one year ago. The unemployment rate also rose, to 6.9 per cent from 5.4 per cent.Regarding housing, the number of starts fell 40.4 per cent. The report stated there were 351 total starts in the first quarter of 2022 , down from 589 in the first quarter of 2021 .
Building permit values also fell, 42.6 per cent, to $361 million from $629 million. However, this year’s first-quarter total was an increase of 101.6 per cent from 2020’s total of $179 million.