Simcoe County looking at ways to get residents working

Barrie Examiner -

A Simcoe County committee project looking at ways to get area residents into the workforce is being considered by county councillors.

The Simcoe County 2015-19 Labour Market Strategy is a project by the county's Ontario Works, the economic development department and the cities of Barrie and Orillia along with the Simcoe Muskoka Work Force Development Board and also includes input from other stakeholders such as Georgian College, Lakehead University, both school boards and employers.

Ontario Works took the lead to come up with the labour-market strategy to help its clients who receive social assistance access training, education and get into the workforce.

The project looked at the top four sectors — manufacturing, professional/scientific/technological services, health care and tourism — and what is needed to meet the demands of those occupations, according to the county's director of Ontario Works, Jamie Moran.

"Communication is really key," Moran said. "Simcoe County has very robust training programs, but not everyone is aware what those training programs are and how they can tap into them."

The strategy wants to be proactive about the getting the message out about the programs, he added.

It would also establish pilot projects that would assist Ontario Works recipients getting into paid positions through a variety of methods, including internship programs to fill current and future job gaps that may exist within those top four sectors.

"They have not been given the opportunity to gain some really grounded work experience," he said. "We feel strongly that offering paid internship programs within the hospitality and tourism sector would bode well for many of the clients we serve."

Another possible pilot project is specific to manufacturing through the public and Catholic school boards.

"These programs are within the school system, but many students are not aware of these programs so we are trying to look at ways of making sure our students in the high-school sector are informed of these opportunities and getting them connected," Moran said.

The pilots are in draft form now and together with steering committee members, the agencies and the educational sectors, it's important "to get these pilots up and running," he added.

The Labour Market Strategy also revealed some other aspects about the county's economy, including some misconceptions about local salaries compared to the Toronto area, commuting patterns and education/training available locally.

Moran said one of those misconceptions is that in order to earn higher wages, county residents would have to go to Toronto or south of the Highway 400 corridor.

"Through the 2014 Randstad Canada Compensation Survey, that was determined to be incorrect. It indicated it's not a 10% to 20% discrepancy (of county residents commuting to the GTA), it's a 3.5% discrepancy," he said. "It's important for people to understand you don't have to drive an hour-and-a-half each way every day to necessarily work in an area that is going to allow you to make a reasonable living and to support yourself.

"(The survey) publicly indicates the County of Simcoe is a great place to live and work, and that the salaries that are offered in Simcoe County are comparable, I'm not saying equal, to what is being offered in the GTA," he said.

"We acknowledge there are a number of people who are still driving out of the county," Moran added. "But there's also 131,500 workers who live in Simcoe County who are working within the county. It bodes well for the idea that Simcoe County is a great place to live and work."

The report indicated those who were commuting out of the county were working in more specialized occupations not available locally, he added.

The baseline of labour market information in the project's first phase was presented in the spring of 2014 and included input from 1,400 Simcoe County community members. Phase two began in the fall of 2014 and resulted in the creation of the Simcoe County 2015-2019 Labour Market Strategy.

Moran is hopeful the strategy will be formally approved at the March 24 county council meeting.

The complete document is available at edo.simcoe.ca/pages/labour-market-study.aspx.