Welcome to WPH’s newest Labour Market Data series! Get information on Hamilton’s labour market and jobs through our Labour Market Snapshot Series 2024.
Check out the monthly infographics to get the real-time information on Hamilton’s labour market. Want more information? Refer below each infographic to get the monthly report!
December 2024
December 2024
In December 2024, the Hamilton CMA saw a 2% growth in population, at a total of 708,200 Hamiltonians. The labour force, which shrunk by 0.6%, amounted to 450,100 persons employed, looking for work, and unemployed. Employment in Hamilton declined in December, with 417,100 employed persons (-1.2%). Whereas, unemployment greatly increased by 7.5%. In December, there were less people currently employed and looking for work. With the participation rate declining by 0.5% to 63.6%. With the temporary shut-down of businesses, and by extension, business services during the holidays, interest in looking for work is expected to wane in anticipation of the new hiring cycle.
Unemployment Rate
The Hamilton CMA has seen consecutive increases to their unemployed population and unemployment rate at the end of 2024. With an increase of 0.5% to 7.3% in December, and an unemployed population of 33,000 (+7.5%). In December, Hamilton’s unemployment rate was on par with the provincial unemployment, both higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.7%. Spearheading this unemployment was the increase in unemployment in the Educational Services sector.
Income in Hamilton
From a five-year perspective, those with reported income in Hamilton increased by 5% to 612,090. Hamilton has seen a decline of those in lower income brackets (less than $10,000 and between $10,000-$50,000). With an increase in the middle earning groups (around 28% decline for those that made less than $10,000 and between $50,000), and higher earning groups as well (45% for those that earned above $100,000). Median total income in Hamilton increased by 16% to $45,140 in 2022.
Industries
Following a tumultuous year for Hamilton’s Utilities sector, the sector finally saw large increases in employment in November, where employment increased by 24%. In December, Hamilton’s Utilities sector saw an additional 14% increase in employment. Similarly, Hamilton’s Other Services – which saw employment increase by 5% – had a consecutive employment gain, of 9%. With a stagnation in construction work earlier, Hamilton’s Construction sector welcomed a 6% increase in employment in December.
In December, Mohawk College announced a cut in staff by 200-400 persons. Reflected in the data, Hamilton’s Educational Services sector dropped 9% in employment. Hamilton’s Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector further saw their employment decline by 7%. Adjacent to the sector was Finance and Insurance, Real Estate, Rental and Leasing, which experienced a drop-off in employment by 5%.
Occupations
From Workforce Planning Hamilton’s Job Board, the top in-demand job for December 2024 were Retail Salespersons with 165 job postings. Following were Home Support Workers (145), Registered Nurses (142); Cooks (137); and Food Service Related occupations (137).
The top hiring employers were McMaster University (313), the City of Hamilton (169); St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (91); Kijiji Employers (85); and Hamilton Health Sciences (76).
Job Demand for 2024
The results are in! The top in-demand jobs of 2024 for Hamilton. In first place were Registered Nurses – with Hamilton Health Sciences as Hamilton’s most prominent employer – there was increased demand throughout the year for healthcare occupations. Retail and service-related occupations were also high on the list of in-demand occupations.
Past snapshots: