As Toronto faces one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, Mayor Rob Ford and other city officials are launching a new strategy to help out-of-work Torontonians find jobs.
Ford kicked off Workforce Development Week on Monday, as the city attempts to connect employers and skilled workers through a number of programs and events.
"The city is committed to keeping Toronto competitive by helping businesses thrive in Toronto,” Ford said in a statement. “It is equally important to ensure unemployed people get the help they need to get back into the workforce.”
Heather MacVicar, Toronto’s general manager of employment and social services, said jobs are not being created at the same pace as they were “pre-recession.”
“Even though we are the economic engine the jobs are lagging behind the growth,” MacVicar told CP24 reporter Rena Heer.
MacVicar said Toronto’s unemployment rate is about one per cent higher than the rest of the GTA.
She said there are plenty of people who stand to benefit from the strategy.
“It should not be a surprise that given the high unemployment and the fact that less than 25 per cent of people qualify for employment insurance that we have a lot of people on assistance that have different kinds of certificates,” MacVicar said. “They’ve got all kinds of business licences and they’ve fallen on hard times, they have no money left and they have applied for social assistance.”
City council endorsed the employment plan, dubbed Working as One: A Workforce Development Strategy for Toronto, last March.
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