In May 2010, Industry Canada released the "Ontario Economic Overview" which looked at some key industry and economic indicators including employment. I was interested and very pleased to see that one of the highlights of the report appears to validate the information we identified in our most recent local workforce planning report.

The Conference Board report indicates that the government's "Feed-In Tariff" program has led a number of traditional automotive manufacturers to diversify into the clean energy sector e.g. in Guelph, Linamar recently signed a contract to develop and produce parts for the solar industry.  The report cites that wind and solar industries grew by 24% and 53% respectively from 2000 to 2008.

According to the report, Manufacturing still accounted for 15.3% of Ontario's GDP IN Q4 of 2009 but the strong Canadian dollar continues to create a challenge for the sector.

As far as local employment is concerned, in Waterloo Region, the unemployment rate for April was 9% while Ontario's rate was 8.7%. The local rate declined to 8.2% in May 2010.

Last month I talked about the implementation of a new and local labour force survey and the first results are also indicating positive movement. Local manufacturers who participated in the survey indicated that while 83 jobs were lost, 114 were created. Overall, 166 jobs were reported lost while 813 were created in April 2010. Survey results can be viewed at this link http://workforceplanningboard.com/Files/English/WPB_LFS_May_2010.pdf

 This month's labour force survey is open till 4 pm today, Friday June 11, if you would like to provide your input http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MT2S9HR

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me at carol@workforceplanningboard.com