Thunder Bay has hit an employment milestone. Data from the Statistics Canada October 2025 Labour Force Survey shows that for the month of October, Thunder Bay hit an employment level of 68,200 jobs. This was an increase of 700 jobs from September 2025 and 2,100 jobs from October of 2024. Annualized October to October, employment in Thunder Bay was up 3.2 percent. Moreover, October 2025 was the highest monthly employment total ever going back over nearly 40 years to 1987. The accompanying figure plots the monthly ebbs and flows of employment since 1987 (along with a 5th order polynomial smooth to illustrate trend) and while there have been other notable peak periods such as June 2003 (67,400), April 2023 (67,100) and June 2018 (66,200) it remains that 68,200 is the largest yet.
There has definitely been an upswing in employment since 2015, notwithstanding the pandemic drop. Thunder Bay has seen substantial economic activity over the last couple of years particularly as a result of numerous construction projects for housing along with highway work and some major institutional projects such as the one billion dollar new correctional facility, the art gallery and most recently the start of the multiplex turf facility. Of course, whether this can be sustained over the long term is an important question and Thunder Bay's peak employment figures have largely fluctuated between 65,000 and 70,000 jobs but have never been able to break out of this corridor. Depending on what the impact of federal and provincial infrastructure money is down the road, as well as whether the region's mining projects for critical minerals indeed come to pass.
Nevertheless, good news for the time being
