Vol 3, Issue 4, March 25, 2021
Hamilton's Labour Market Connection
Your weekly news & updates from WPH!
In this week's edition: EmployerOne - Business Impact Survey Launched; Scenario Planning Western Region Report; Automation workforce preparation; Hamilton LMI February 2021
Business Impact Survey - EmployerOne Report Launched!
The results are in! For the eighth year Workforce Planning Hamilton (WPH) has delivered the EmployerOne Survey. This year, EmployerOne pivoted; we partnered with City of Hamilton Economic Development to develop and distribute the Business Impact Survey. This survey included workforce development question from our usual EmployerOne survey but also focused on the impacts businesses have endured through the global pandemic. Hamilton employers across all industries shared their hiring experience on the most in-demand jobs in Hamilton and highlighted recruitment, retention and skills concerns. This survey provides a snapshot of how local employers were fairing in the January 2020 labour market. This year 1,559 employers completed the EmployerOne Business Impact survey.

Employer Apprenticeship Toolkit COMPLETED!
Workforce Planning Hamilton (WPH) in collaboration with Mohawk College Apprenticeship Community Hub (The Hub) have developed online content to support your recruitment and retention efforts to support Apprenticeship success. Many small and medium employers (SME) have identified barriers and have difficultly navigating the apprenticeship process. In an effort to ensure a seamless navigation of process, it is our hopes that this will lead to more skilled apprentices to fill the jobs industry has been requesting. 
Hamilton's Scenario Planning Partnership Project
Workforce Planning West is comprised of the nine Workforce Planning Boards operating in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Members include Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board, Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board, Four County Labour Market Planning Board, Niagara Workforce Planning Board, Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board, Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie, Workforce Planning Board of Waterloo Wellington Dufferin, Workforce Planning Hamilton, and Workforce WindsorEssex.

The factors and scenarios were enveloped by research and consultations with employers, service providers, and other stake holders in the community. Each scenario has potential recommendations and we have an overall recommendation at the end for the project. This then is an opportunity to find an overlap with your organization or think about how other stakeholders in the community can be connected to this project.

Each report describes how the supply and demand of the labour market in Southwestern Ontario may shift in the next 12-24 months as a result of COVID-19 and identifies specific actions and initiatives that employment and training services, government, secondary and post-secondary education, and community leaders can implement in the near future to mitigate impacts or bridge skills gaps that emerge in each of the future scenarios.




How HR Leaders are Preparing for AI-Enabled Workforce
Awaiting AI’s prevalence, companies’ upskilling strategies range from doing nothing to empowering employees to set their own career paths.

The promise — and threat — of AI is real. But the impact on jobs has not yet arrived in most organizations. As recently as 2017, headlines such as “Bosses Believe Your Work Skills Will Soon Be Useless” (from the The Washington Post) were common. Oxford University researchers argued in 2013 that 47% of U.S. jobs were at risk of loss to automation. MIT launched its institute-wide task force on the future of work in 2018. Leaders around the world began to consider how their organizations would be different when thousands of their employees’ jobs are automated away.
Hamilton Labour Force Information:
February 2021

The Hamilton COVID Concierge for Business is a one-stop online resource centre and phone line dedicated to supporting Hamilton businesses with their COVID-19 business questions and concerns.
Hamilton businesses can call the COVID Concierge at 905-521-3989 (Mon-Fri, 8:30am-4:30pm) or Contact Us online.


The Hamilton COVID Concierge for Business is brought to you by the Hamilton COVID Concierge Team, comprised of the City of Hamilton and the three local Chambers of Commerce.
Workforce Planning Hamilton | 905-521-5777| info@workforceplanninghamilton.ca | www.workforceplanninghamilton.ca