Ottawa complains of joblessness alongside labour shortage

Joblessness and labour shortage in Ottawa

Bob Chiarelli, Chairman of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa- Carleton had sensed the problem of workforce in the region. In 1998, The Chairman requested the Caledon Institute of Social Policy to prepare a strategy on development of labour force in the area.

The Chairman announced Partners for Jobs initiative based on the recommendations of strategy. The team constituted for this job comprised of representatives from different sections of the society. There were people from Labour groups, business class, antipoverty groups, federal and provincial governments.
Commissioner of Social Services of Ottawa-Carleton is the chairman of above mentioned working group committee.

The challenge
According to a recent report Ottawa has been ranked third in the country in terms of its potential for economic growth. On the other hand another report quotes a figure of 144,300 unemployed people in Ottawa-Carleton.

There are instances when either people are overqualified and have teething problems to take up a full time job. Otherwise there is a dearth of job too.

Causes
Unstable labour market in Ottawa is the biggest cause of poverty. Cuts to income programs are another reason for the situation. Employment insurance paid benefits to only 41.7% unemployed people.

Solution
Mr. Kenney says “We are trying to connect the unemployed workers with the employers”. A Nova Scotia farmer, Jim DeLong says, “It’s good that Ottawa is asking questions about the province’s high unemployment rate”.

The Biotech Industry is about to launch an online skills- transfer tool very soon. This would help the factory workers in identifying expertise to guide new employees. Bio Talent Canada, an Ottawa based non-profit group is developing Web resources to help them with traditional manufacturing skills. The web resource also helps them in handling jobs like installation, operation and monitoring.
Rob Henderson, executive Director of Bio Talent Canada said, “Unemployed workers simply do not know this”.

Government’s effort
A spokesperson of Diane Finlay, Human resource Minister refuses to inform the changes and says that the minister would make the announcement on his own.

Jason Kenney opened a political can of worms this week by asking why employers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I are bringing in temporary workers when they have a high percentage of unemployment in their regions.

In spite of all the efforts from various angles the employers prefer the outsiders as they find them to be punctual and reasonable in terms of cost. Ottawa is to see a revolution on this issue.