8/25/2025|Updated: 8/25/2025
Ontario has lost 38,000 jobs in the past three months as the effects of tariffs imposed by the United States begin to emerge, a new report from the province’s financial overseer suggests.
Employment within Ontario’s industrial sector dropped by 3.5 percent in the second quarter of 2025, a recent report released by the Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario has found.
It’s a shift financial accountability officer Jeffrey Novak attributed to the early impact of the tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed on Canadian imports, as well as on broad economic factors.
“The latest economic indicators suggest mostly negative results for Ontario’s economy in 2025 Q2, with losses in employment, manufacturing sales, wholesale and retail trade, and international exports,” Novak wrote.
The most pronounced drop in employment took place in the manufacturing sector, which experienced a loss of 29,400 jobs in the second quarter of this year, the financial watchdog found. That drop of 3.5 percent was the sharpest quarterly job loss in the sector since 2009, except for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business, building, and support services experienced a decline of 14,900 jobs while the culture and recreation industry lost 12,900 jobs, according to the report. There were also notable decreases in employment within the transportation and warehousing sector and in agriculture at 8,600 and 8,500 respectively.
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The loss of 56,600 full-time jobs was partially countered by the creation of 18,700 part-time jobs.
The unemployment rate has risen for the ninth straight quarter, now at 7.8 percent—the highest figure since late 2012, excluding the pandemic.
Novak said the impact of tariffs is especially noticeable in Windsor, a city that boasts a significant manufacturing sector, where the unemployment rate increased by 1.9 percentage points in the second quarter, reaching 11.2 percent, the highest in the province.
Trump slapped a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum, and a 25 percent tariff on car parts that are not compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement this spring. He also announced last week that steel and aluminum tariffs had been implemented on 407 additional products, including railcars, heavy equipment, and furniture.
Provincial Response
Reacting to the report, the Opposition NDP accused the province of failing to adequately protect Ontario jobs, with MPP and finance critic Jessica Bell describing the stats laid out in the financial accountability officer’s report as “truly alarming.”
“Families can’t afford more government inaction while good, full-time jobs disappear from right underneath of us,” Bell said in a joint statement with Catherine Fife, the NDP’s critic for economic development, jobs and trade.
“We’re watching key sectors like trade and manufacturing deteriorate, while workers are left without security,” Fife said in the statement. “This government has yet to put forward a credible plan to protect jobs or provide families with the stability they need.”
Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman said on social media the FAO report is an indicator that the government is guiding the province “in the wrong direction.”
The province announced a $1 billion fund earlier this month to offer relief to businesses affected by steel, aluminum, and auto tariffs.
The Protect Ontario Financing Program is included in a $5 billion tariff-related support package Doug Ford’s Conservative government unveiled in its spring budget. The loan program is intended to support businesses in managing payroll, lease, and utility payments to help prevent closures and layoffs.
Businesses must have already exhausted federal tariff support programs, employ at least 10 individuals, and generate a minimum annual revenue of $2 million to be eligible for loans ranging from $250,000 up to $40 million.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the government has also announced $70 million in employment and training assistance for workers in industries impacted by tariffs, and is allocating billions more to bolster the economy.
“With President Trump’s tariffs taking direct aim at our economy, our government is using every tool we have to protect the over 800,000 jobs in Ontario’s world-class manufacturing sector,” the spokesperson said in a media statement.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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Source: Epoch Times , August 25,2025
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Author: brianpeckford
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