The following article appeared in the September 15 edition of the Guelph Tribune:
It may not be an all-time low, but Guelph’s unemployment rate for August came close at 4.7 per cent – the lowest in the country.
“Our existing employers are getting busier and we’ve got new employers coming into Guelph,” said Guelph Chamber of Commerce president Lloyd Longfield, attempting to provide some explanation for the low rate.
The numbers, released this month as part of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, show the city’s unemployment rate has dropped 3.5 percentage points compared with August of last year and is well below the current national rate of 7.3 per cent.
The rate is nearly as low as it gets for Guelph, said Longfield, but it seems to be in line with trends in the local job market.
“A lot of employers are calling us asking for help to find employees,” Longfield said, noting there has been a recent demand to fill positions such as machine operators or welders.One of the challenges is how to connect the available workers with the available jobs. “There is always a bit of a mismatch” between the skills of potential workers and the skills required for the available jobs, explained Longfield.
The chamber works closely with the City of Guelph, the University of Guelph and Conestoga College to develop strategies to meet the needs of employers and employees in Guelph, he said.
“What we’re focusing on is to try to make the connections between the demand and the supply,” he said.
One of the most recent strategies they’ve come up with is a co-op connections webpage, which will be launched next Thursday at an event at the Holiday Inn. The page will connect local businesses with co-op students from the local school boards as well as the college and the university.
“We’re trying to help employers fill their spots,” said Longfield.
Some of these spots will be filled by new graduates, while others will be filled by workers re-entering the labour force.
Recognizing that some of those workers would need to retrain, the chamber’s workplace development committee created a “Career Toolbox” two years ago to help people wanting to transition into new careers, he said.
At the same time, the City of Guelph, with its efforts to attract industries such as agri-food and green technology, has also been proactive in bringing jobs to the city, said Longfield.
“With our economic development programs, we’re targeting the clean technology sector,” as well as the agri-tech, agri-food, life sciences and manufacturing sectors, said Peter Cartwright, the city’s general manager of economic development and tourism services.
“There have been a number of new industries that have located here in the last year,” he said, naming solar-panel manufacturer Canadian Solar as one example.
Canadian Solar hired hundreds of new employees, he said. Guelph-based automotive parts manufacturer Linamar has also done significant hiring in the last year.
Guelph has lower development charges than the surrounding municipalities, which can make it more attractive to businesses when they are considering where to locate, said Cartwright.
Initiatives such as Guelph’s Community Energy Initiative also contribute to the long-term prosperity of the city and make it more appealing to business investment, he said.
“I think the city has done some subtle things to attract business,” said Cartwright.
The city also markets itself through municipal trade shows, and local collaboration to attract business investment is good, he said.
The recent unemployment figure seemed exceptionally low, but not unrealistic, he said.
“That number is very flattering.”