Partnership Commitments 2022 – 2023
Employer One
WPH will be conducting our EmployerOne survey for 2022-2023 which will be our 10th year doing this survey! The EmployerOne Survey, in partnership with the City of Hamilton’s Economic Development team, will be sent out in January to employers across Hamilton to gather the valuable data from this Business Impact Survey. This survey includes workforce development questions from our EmployerOne survey but also focused on the impact businesses have endured through the global pandemic. Hamilton employers across all industries are asked about their hiring experiences on the most in-demand jobs in Hamilton and highlight recruitment, retention, and skills concerns. This survey provides a snapshot of how local employers are fairing in the January 2023 labour market.
EmployerOne has become foundational in our labour market research. While census information offers us a deep understanding of labour market trends, EmployerOne offers the up-to-the-minute snapshot of where Hamilton’s labour market is at. It also keeps us in touch with a wide range of employers of all sectors and sizes.
Hamilton Youth Workforce
Workforce Planning Hamilton resumes our efforts on youth advocacy regarding employment opportunities, virtual networking engagements, and an overall emphasis on mental health awareness. Our community-wide strategy addresses the high unemployment rate of youth and develop a strategic plan on how to better support youth mental health. WPHs community page; Hamilton Youth Workforce continues to develop our steering committee of youth-based agencies and employment supports, as well as welcome youth leaders to provide their input and suggestions from their personal experience and provide youth with a better grasp of what Hamilton’s labour market reveals to support with employment decisions. WPH will be hosting a virtual round table featuring local agencies and community partners to cover a range of topics centered around youth including employment, mental health, diversity, community programs and more.
Apprenticeship Toolkit
This year WPH will be creating a streamlined toolkit to support students into apprentices. We will provide valuable resources to new young apprentices by collating all the information needed to get started with an apprenticeship in a streamlined guide. We will work closely with the Mohawk Community Apprenticeship Hub, other Apprenticeship Groups, and agencies to gather information that will be helpful to individuals interested in beginning the employment pathway of skilled trade apprenticeships. An apprenticeship toolkit will provide local LMI to future apprentices in order to provide a general context of what employers are requesting and looking for in an apprentice. WPH will increase the understanding on the process of becoming an apprentice and the benefits of starting the journey in skilled trades .We will create series of information amended to focus on the skilled trades, and other materials from our partners that will be available both digitally and in hard copy through the mail for those with less technological abilities so that we can continue the conversation with individuals interested in learning about the necessary steps in becoming an apprentice. WPH will connect with potential students and community members who otherwise may not be aware of local supports and bridge that gap to connect them with more information about the process of beginning apprenticeship programs, government supports, and hiring supports to flourish in these challenging times.
Workforce Data Management
WPH will research, conduct community consultations, and prepare a new labour market plan for Hamilton 2022-2023. We will update all labour market information including the base indicators and document new or evolving trends in Hamilton’s labour market. Employment Ontario partners will be consulted about EO data and employers will also be engaged in the planning process through a round table discussion on 2022-2023 community priorities. The final report will include highlights of key findings and updated labour market priorities and a multi-year action plan. Through employment engagement, labour market presentations, and other outreach initiatives to community partners throughout the fiscal year, WPH will collect information on skill gap shortages and industry training needs in order to update changing LMI. We will use a community consultation round table presentation to track feedback from the community to understand current needs in Hamilton.
On-Going WPH Projects
- Labour Market Snapshot: Monthly LMI Reports: WPH produces quarterly Labour Market Snapshot reports using data from Talent Neuron, and the Labour Force Survey.
- WPH Newsletter: Our weekly newsletter continues to be well received by employers and service providers
Previous Projects
Skills for the Future Forum
Skills of all kinds continue to be the most discussed aspect of the workforce. Lack of soft skills, specialized technical skills and essential skills are all frequently mentioned. Thought leaders in workforce development suggest that we should be encouraging workforce development specialists to move away from promoting occupations and make the conversation revolve around skills.
We have partnered with Mohawk College Enterprise to bring you our virtual interactive series: Skills for the Future Forum. Three virtual interactive sessions featuring in-depth discussion and learning from a range of experts on funding opportunities and the skills employees require to be successful now and in the future.
- Session 1: February 9: Skills in a Pandemic Era
- Session 2: February 16: Funding Opportunities to Support Skills Development
- Session 3: February 23: The Evolution of Workplace Skills
Hiring Immigrants in Hamilton (2013)
Immigrant employment is an important issue for Hamilton, and it will continue to grow in importance as our labour force changes. Within two decades, approximately one in every three people in the Canadian labour force will have been born outside of Canada.1 The ability of local employers not only to accommodate but also to benefit from changing labour force demographics will help determine Hamilton’s future economic strength. It is this context that Workforce Planning Hamilton has undertaken to consult with Hamilton area employers about hiring and employing immigrants. This survey is believed to be the first of its kind in Hamilton, and the results provide insight into our local context as compared with Canada-wide surveys and employer surveys in other cities.
Winning Strategies for Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Five Communities (2012)
Persons in all immigration categories and from a wide range of countries establish businesses in Canada. Through investments and business formation, immigrants have become a major source of job creation in this country, and they have higher levels of self-employment than their Canadian-born counterparts. Yet starting a business is challenging, and failure rates are high, both for immigrants and the Canadian-born. As this country increasingly relies on immigration for labour force and population growth, and as almost all new jobs are created by small businesses, it is important to learn more about immigrant businesses and how to help them thrive. To this end, the Winning Strategies for Immigrant Entrepreneurship project (“Wise5” for short) built on a partnership of local Workforce Planning Boards in five communities: Hamilton, London, Niagara Region, Windsor, and Waterloo Region including Guelph. To learn about experiences of immigrants in business, we interviewed more than 100 individuals in these communities, including im-migrant entrepreneurs, service providers and other persons with knowledge of immigration and business. This report builds on findings from these interviews, from relevant articles and reports, and from primary research into services and supports to identify key business supports and business start-up trajectories that have met with success. It contains recommendations for communities for supporting immigrant businesses and identifies best practices that can be adopted in other regions.
Quick Survey
Loading ...