In part 1, I touched on the unrealistic recommendation The Jobs Now Task Force had for transit improvement. If you can’t get council and other partners to fund this, it is not going to happen.
Onto part 2.
Let us go back to some of the other recommendations, in particular items 3 and 4.
- Develop a sustainable business plan to get London’s 13,000 jobs filled. The Mayor’s Office has been leading the Jobs Task Force. We recommend that the Mayor’s Office continue to drive the process with the support of other Task Force members, City Council, and community leaders. The creation of the London Jobs Board and getting public transit to London’s industrial areas are important first steps in meeting the Mayor’s 13,000 filled-jobs target. Our work, however, must not end here. A sustained effort is called for. To that end the Task Force recommends that our next step be the creation of a 4-year business plan focused on meeting the 13,000 filled-jobs goal, with the delivery of that plan to City Council in time for review and debate during Council’s 4-year Budget process this Fall.
- Have London’s media hold the City’s feet to the fire for meeting the 13,000 jobs-filled goal. Turning around London’s job decline is essential to the future well-being of our City. We need to start tracking progress towards the goal of 13,000 more employed, celebrating when we reverse the current down-slide and pushing our civic leaders when we fail to make progress. The media has an important role to play in the achievement of that goal by holding London’s City Council, City Staff, and the area’s economic development agencies to account.
For some of the details, I again point to Economist Mike Moffatt’s excellent summary
All of my comments below are my own observations, as before If I have made a mistake I’m happy to hear where I’m wrong. A shout out to others including Scott Collyer @ScottatEmpyrean who has raised these concerns as well in the past.
To speak to #3. Develop a sustainable business plan to get London’s 13,000 jobs filled.
A city itself cannot create jobs, it can only give a favorable environment for companies to make these jobs happen. The report also focuses on manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing is not the only sector in town that has been losing jobs. All sectors should be considered.
Another quote from the report.
A mismatch of skills versus job market requirements, although the importance of this factor is difficult to pinpoint since most openings require only a good work ethic and ability to learn on the job.
Frankly, the above content is simply “bull” and insulting. Ask anyone looking for work today will tell you the bar is set so high. Employers want a laundry list of skills right away. If you also look at the shortage of professional type jobs (white-collar) this comment is even more insulting. To see what I mean, see the comments following this CBC London story. You will see dozens of people expressing the same frustrations about employer’s unwilling to give people a change or searching for the ‘perfect’ candidate for months instead of spending a bit to train someone. This is a very common thing and I’m disappointed this did not seem to be addressed in the report.
As to recommendation #4 Have London’s media hold the City’s feet to the fire
Absolutely agree, I think the questions needs to be more like.
How will you address the other sectors other than manufacturing that are losing jobs?
How will you address the high amount of contract / part time and jobs that do not pay a living wage?
Again looking forward to hearing from our local leaders about how to address this. Or will there be an uncomfortable silence and the rest of this report will gather dust on a shelf like so many before?