Peel Region Chosen for Employment Service Improvements that will Help Residents Find Good Quality Jobs

Ontario’s employment and training programs are critical to building the skilled workforce that create good quality jobs and better outcomes for workers and communities. Over the past year, Ontario businesses have created over 184,000 jobs across the province. Ontario’s government continues to invest in important initiatives such as infrastructure, affordable housing and transportation, while ensuring more workers and skilled tradespeople can fill the jobs in high-demand sectors to grow our economy.

Last week, Prabmeet Sarkaria, the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction and MPP for Brampton-South, MPP Rudy Cuzzetto, MPP Amarjot Sandhu and I were pleased to announce that Peel Region will be one of three communities piloting a new employment services model. The current employment services system has been unable to provide people with a clear path to employment when they are looking for work. This pilot project will create a stronger employment system that is easier to use and more responsive to local needs, which will better serve those who are unemployed and underemployed, those on social assistance including individuals with disabilities.

The goal of the new employment service model is to have one easy and efficient system that will meet the needs of all those looking for work and provide employers with the talent they need to grow their business. The Region of Peel will be one of the first three pilot projects to benefit from better employment services, along with the people of Hamilton-Niagara and Muskoka-Kawarthas.

By implementing the new system in three regions, we can develop the experience and expertise necessary to guide the rest of the province when we move forward with rolling the system out across Ontario, starting in 2022. Peel will be the first to see the benefits of streamlining services for job seekers and making it easier for employers to recruit within the community.

The first step for this new model is to select a service system manager, which will be the organization responsible for providing our community with the local employment services we need in Peel Region, as well as responding to our local labour market needs. These managers will be chosen through a competitive process and are expected to be appointed in the late fall.

Improving employment services and focusing on the local needs of our communities and workers will help job seekers find good, quality jobs.

If you have any questions about the new Employment Service model, please call my office at 1-800-265-1603 or visit www.sylviajonesmpp.ca.

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