MAKING IT WORK: Rebalancing jobs and skills in York Region

NRU
January 8, 2013

About 40 per cent of York Region residents leave their home region to go to work. Staff says that’s because there’s a mismatch between the skills residents have and the jobs that are available to them in the region.

The committee of the whole that deals with planning and economic development will consider a staff report Thursday outlining statistics on labour and employment from the National Housing Survey, along with their implications for the region. The report, from corporate and strategic planning executive director Dino Basso, notes that there’s a strong jobs-to-resident-employed labour force ratio, but a low live-work percentage.

This means that while a high proportion of York residents in the labour force are employed (92 per cent) a lower percentage work close to home. In fact only about 60 per cent of those who live in York Region can find work there, and the rest have to look outside of it, mostly winding up in Toronto (31.8 per cent) and Peel Region (5.2 per cent).

York Region planning and economic development committee chair John Taylor says, in simple terms, the region has a highly educated and ambitious workforce, and the region needs to ensure that it creates jobs that match that reality.

For the most part, he says, that means an increase in knowledge economy jobs. Currently, there are about 26,200 more jobs in manufacturing and related industries than residents available to fill those jobs. Workers from outside of the region are commuting in to fill them, while there is an exodus of residents every morning who are trained for business services, including jobs in the knowledge economy. There is also a shortage of jobs available in the retail trade, and in institutional sectors.

“I think, really, it’s us embracing a shift in the economy. I think one of the things we can do is [promote] a rapid increase in post-secondary presence in York Region,” Taylor tells NRU. In order to do that, though, he says the region also needs to continue to focus on creating more affordable housing, as the current market is, for the most part, inaccessible to students and young workers. Expanding transit, of course, will also help to correct the current imbalance of skills to jobs.

“The goal here is to have people live and work as close as possible,” Taylor says. Matching people to jobs appropriate for their skillsets within the region is important because it enhances overall quality of life, reduces environmental impact and boosts the economy.”

“It’s definitely a multi-pronged approach, and it’s not an easy one. This is one of two or three of the most important issues facing York Region in the next decade.”

“No one, single strategy alone is going to be successful. Anybody who takes only economic development into account, as opposed to [including] transit and housing, I think, will fail.”

He does, however, say that the situation is not at crisis level, and that with the right mix of tactics, it’s solvable. York Region growth management manager Paul Bottomley contributed to the report, and he says that consideration of the labour figures is a precursor to updating the region’s 2004 study of housing and the economy.

He expects a thorough update to be completed later this year. He tells NRU that staff has been aware of this trend for some time, and that initiatives outlined in the region’s economic development action plan will help to rectify the imbalance of residents’ skills to jobs. Some of those initiatives include increasing broadband connectivity to help those who want to work from home, and improving the region’s marketing to attract new business.

“The 10-year housing plan… is going to be coming back [to committee] in its final form in the next couple of months, and that will be an important [component], too,” he says, adding that the ongoing investment in transit will also help to bring more jobs that suit residents’ skills.

The status quo is not an option for Bottomley; some changes are needed if a better balance between residents’ skills and jobs is to be achieved.

“I think it’s doing more or less what we’re doing now, and trying to grow. The competition for skilled workers is only going to become more intense moving forward.”