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Jobs First Career Explorer
Leave a CommentThe Career Explorer is a career path tool for students, educators, job seekers, and employment counselors showing in-demand jobs in Durham Region alongside potential career paths in and out of those jobs.
Often times people aim for higher level jobs knowing that they will have to work their way up to the position, but aren’t entirely sure what actual jobs lead to their desired outcome. The Career Explorer streamlines the career planning process by making it easy to identify which jobs commonly lead in and out of each other, while also providing context specific to the job market in Durham Region such as job demand and income based on local job postings.
The tool features some bubbles that are shaded and some that are not, with shaded bubbles representing jobs that are currently in high demand in Durham Region. Mousing over any bubble will reveal a set of arrows leading both into and out of the bubble, demonstrating different jobs that can lead to and lead from the selected job bubble.
Bubbles can be resized to visualize differences in median employment income or active job postings, allowing job seekers to further analyze job prospects. Bubbles can also be filtered by sector to help narrow things down. Clicking on any bubble will prompt a pop-up display showing a job description, wage/salary information, desired skills for the job, active job postings, and links to more information.
You can visit the Jobs First Career Explorer here.
Census Metropolitan Unemployment Rates Across Ontario
Leave a CommentThe Unemployment Rate Comparison Graph provides a visual display of the monthly unemployment rates for various Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) across Ontario. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. Estimates are percentages, rounded to the nearest tenth.
The Oshawa CMA is comprised of Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington. The Oshawa CMA is used as a data proxy in Durham Region as Pickering, Ajax and Uxbridge are part of the Toronto CMA and Brock and Scugog are not surveyed in the monthly report due to population size. The Oshawa CMA includes the most Durham Region residents and provides the best depiction of the labour market in the Region as a whole.
The Unemployment Rate Comparison Graph demonstrates the significant changes labour markets across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Ontario have undergone since the beginning of 2020 largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Barrie CMA and Windsor CMA saw their presumed peak unemployment related to Covid-19 in May, while the other CMAs listed have seen unemployment rates continue to rise, albeit at various rates, in June.
In Ontario, the highest unemployment rate in June 2020 was 15.2% in both Guelph and Windsor CMAs, and the lowest unemployment rate was 9.4% in Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario part). With the exception of Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario part) all other CMAs in Ontario saw unemployment rates of at least 10.1%. By comparison, in January 2020 all Ontario CMAs had unemployment rates of less than 7.9%.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic changes in the labour markets of both Ontario and Durham Region. It will be important to continue monitoring the unemployment rate to evaluate the success of policies and practices implemented to help the economy return to a state of relative normalcy.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0095-01, Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality (July 2020).
Jobs First Jobs Board
Leave a CommentSearching through more than 25 job boards can be exhausting and time consuming. Major job boards can be hard to navigate; the DWA wanted to provide a tool that makes finding work in Durham Region simpler and more efficient.
The Jobs First Durham Jobs Board pulls Durham Region specific postings from many popular job sites, and lists them in one place to make finding local work easier. Postings can be filtered by skill level, municipality, and language among others, helping you find the exact job you are looking for.
The following are the sites aggregated by Jobs First Durham:
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You can visit the Jobs First Jobs Board here.
Jobs First Career Library – An Overview
Leave a CommentThe Durham Workforce Authority has recently launched the Jobs First Career Library, a tool indexing all 500 National Occupation Classification (NOC) codes in the context of Durham Region. The National Occupational Classification is Canada’s national system for describing occupations and is useful for understanding the types of employment opportunities available in the Region.
The DWA wanted to provide a tool that not only gives information about different occupations but also provides contextual information about how those occupations fit into the Durham Region employment story. The Jobs First Career Library accomplishes just that, pairing general occupational information such as income with region-specific information such as local employers hiring for those positions.
The tool allows you to browse all or search for specific occupations, with each listing providing information on active job postings, potential career paths, alternate job titles, and local employers for the selected occupation. Here you will also find salary and income details, and regional employment participation, all broken down by demographics such as age, sex, education, and more.
A sample listing for Administrative Officers can be found here, with a general description at the top (including a banner stating this occupation is in demand), and the pertinent information broken down on the left side of the page. Active job postings are displayed by default to immediately provide up to date information on what jobs are being hired for currently in the Region.
Job seekers will be able to leverage this tool to better understand the opportunities available to them in Durham Region, and the paths they can take to achieve their employment goals. Employers will be able to gain extra, more in-depth exposure for their company and job postings. Job developers will gain access to better information to help them connect people with the work they are seeking. Overall, we believe this tool provides tremendous value to the community and the labour market of Durham Region.
You can visit the Jobs First Career Library here.
DWA Presents at the DLIP
Leave a CommentAs a long-standing proud member of the DLIP, the DWA executive director recently presented the Jobs First Durham data portal and the job search tool for the members in attendance.
The presentation was well received, and several members have asked for presentations at their local offices to their staff. As well, the DWA has shared the presentation here.
The Durham Local Immigration Partnership (DLIP) is a network of over 100 community partners, including settlement and non-settlement service providers, agencies, organizations and institutions, committed to the vision of a welcoming Durham Region where immigrants belong and contribute socially, culturally and economically.
The DLIP works to foster more welcoming communities by enhancing the coordination of services and partnerships designed to improve the settlement and inclusion outcomes of immigrants and all residents. Members of the Council are drawn from diverse sectors of the community representing agencies, institutions, local business groups and the Region. The DLIP works with community stakeholders to create welcoming communities across Durham Region.
The DLIP conducts its work with many local partners according to the principles of Co-ordination, Collaboration and Co-operation.
Visit Jobs First Durham to learn more about available job searching tools. To learn more about DLIP, visit their website here.
2020 LiNDR Annual General Meeting
Leave a CommentThe Durham Workforce Authority (DWA) is a proud member of the Literacy Network of Durham Region (LiNDR). The Literacy Network of Durham Region was incorporated as a charity in 1994 to help meet the literacy needs of the regional community. LiNDR’s purpose is to support and promote literacy and basic skills services within the Regional Municipality of Durham.
On Friday June 19th, 2020 the DWA attended the LiNDR Annual General Meeting and Professional Development session. The Life-Work Wellness seminar, delivered by Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, discussed in detail the wheel of wellbeing and the mental health continuum tool and provided participants with resources to support wellbeing.
The nine dimensions of the wheel of wellbeing are emotional, cognitive, physical, social, spiritual, environmental, occupational, financial, and mental. The interconnectedness of the nine components means that if even a single component is impacted, whether positively or negatively, it has the potential to impact each of the others as well.
The mental health continuum tool provides practitioners, employers, and individuals with a visual understanding of the differences individuals can feel with regards to mental health, sometimes on a daily basis. The four-stage continuum provides a visual representation of the differences between four stages of mental health: healthy, reacting, injured and ill. Someone describing themselves as healthy, is, at that moment, normal functioning, experiencing normal mood functions, can take things in stride, and is comfortable with others.
Identifying as in the reacting stage means that you are experiencing common and reversible distress. Individuals identifying in this category may be irritable or impatient and may experience increased nervousness, sadness, or worry. Both the healthy and reacting stages on the continuum indicate a need for self-care and social support.
An individual in the injured category on the continuum is facing significant functional impairment. They may be avoiding social situations or having significantly disturbed sleep. Common feelings may include anger, anxiety, fearfulness, hopelessness, and worthlessness.
Finally, individuals in the ill category are experiencing a clinical disorder marked by severe and persistent functional impairment. Typically, these individuals will have significant difficulty with emotions, have high levels of anxiety, panic attacks, and constant fatigue. Both injured and ill stages on the continuum need professional care and support.
Being cognizant of one’s sense of wellness and all its components is critical to understanding the differences between good mental health, poor mental health, and mental illness.
Federal Government Launches ‘I Want to Help’ Platform
Leave a CommentThe Government of Canada has officially launched its ‘I Want to Help’ program with the purpose of incentivizing students and recent graduates to volunteer to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was unveiled over two months ago and is now available to aid students unable to find summer employment.
COVID-19 has created a unique struggle for students who typically rely on summer employment to cover their tuition and living expenses. The federal government previously had increased funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program to promote summer employment for students. The ‘I Want to Help’ platform doubles down on this initiative, providing another avenue for students to get the income they need for their studies while simultaneously helping community organizations in need.
Students will be able to volunteer to do several work activities such as research, making masks for the public, and much more. The platform already has more than 22000 active placements with more to come as not-for-profits continue adding placements up to the August 21st deadline.
The Canada Student Service Grant holds a value between $1000 and $5000 based on the amount of volunteer hours completed by the student. The student will receive $1000 for every 100 hours worked, making 500 hours worked the requirement to receive the full grant.
The program will run until October 31st, 2020 and is only available to students and recent graduates who are under the age of 30. Applicants must be enrolled as either part-time or full-time student in spring, summer, or fall 2020, or completed their studies no earlier than December 2019.
More resources and information about the program can be found on the ‘I Want to Help’ website. For information specific to students interested in participating in the program, visit the student portal directly here. For information pertaining to not-for-profits in need of volunteers, visit the not-for-profit portal directly here.
2020 APBOT Mayors’ Breakfast
Leave a CommentThe Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade (APBOT) is currently operating in its 65th year, over the past three months APBOT has hosted over 25 virtual networking and educational events, mainly COVID-19 related, and has many more planned in the coming months.
Their advocacy work has proven invaluable to the membership as they continue to be the voice of business in Ajax, Pickering and throughout the Region. APBOT is proud of the work and its membership on the Durham Economic Task Force table, where the Region and all municipal economic development departments, chambers/boards of trade, BIAs, and BACD have come together to collaborate on how we continue to support business through, and post, COVID-19.
The DWA was proud to sponsor the ‘breakfast’ and had the honour of introducing Ajax Mayor, Shaun Collier who was elected as the tenth Mayor of the Town of Ajax in 2018.
His vision is to continue building Ajax into a dynamic, thriving and diverse community as we grow; a destination where people live, work and play. This means bringing a renewed focus on the value of clean streets and parks, attracting well-paying and sustainable local jobs, and our commitment to leadership in community safety and inclusion for all.
Mayor Collier is also a local champion for innovation, technology and relationship building. He is the Chair of Durham Region Transit, Vice Chair of Finance, serves on the Board of Directors of PARA Rescue and Elexicon Corporation where he Chairs the Administration Committee, and is an active member of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario.
The Mayor also noted the addition of Don Terry to Ajax Economic Development and indicated the councils strong support of Black Lives Matter.
LMIC Report: What Wage Information do Students Value?
Leave a CommentThrough a partnership with Refresh Market Research, the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) conducted a study of first-year postsecondary students to determine what types of wage information they are interested in. They conducted a series of discussions with 35 Canadian students to better understand what information students value most.
The study found that students want highly customizable wage information that is adaptable to their own life circumstances, differentiating things such as hourly and annual rates of pay. They also value the ability to compare wage data by occupation, field of study, and location to help them make more informed decisions about education and potential career paths.
Personal interests are still the main factor for students when choosing a postsecondary program; however, as they begin to consider long-term career goals their focus changes to wage information to ensure they can afford the future lifestyle they desire. Most important to them is wage information by occupation as it is the most specific and easiest to understand, followed by wage information by education/training which helps them determine the amount of education and training required to achieve their desired salary. Students were less interested in wage information by industry in comparison to other classifications, often seeing information about an entire field as too broad.
When asked about additional labour market information outside of wages, students ranked cost of living as the most important. By comparing the cost of living in a location to expected wages they were able to better gauge if their earnings would be enough to provide their desired lifestyle. Benefits were also viewed as very important in helping them compare job offers as well as calculating how much extra they need for insurance and savings.
The report concludes that wage information is very valuable to students when making career-related decisions. Wage information helps validate their career and education choices, and paints a clearer picture of the outcomes they can expect from the paths they choose. Wage information should be customizable to individual needs, relevant to future career aspirations as well as the present, and enhanced with additional information such as cost of living to make career decisions for students as informed as possible.
The full report can be found here.
DWA Nominated for Business Excellence Award
Leave a CommentThe 2019 Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade Business Excellence Awards nominees are out, and the Durham Workforce Authority is proud to have been nominated for the Not for Profit/Charity category!
Established in 1994, this was the 25th anniversary of the Business Excellence Awards, which were created to recognize achievements and excellence in business performance of organizations serving Ajax-Pickering. Nominees are selected by their business peers, followed by the winners being voted on by an independent panel of judges.
The DWA has been working hard to increase the availability of information specific to Ajax and Pickering, including local labour market information and demographics on both municipalities found in our Durham Data Portal. This information can be used to help local businesses understand things such as the available supply of labour, therefore helping them strategically plan their businesses accordingly.
Other nominees in the Not for Profit/Charity category included Abilities Centre, AI Hub – Durham College, Alzheimer Society of Durham Region, Business Advisory Centre Durham, and Girl’s Inc. of Durham, with Girl’s Inc. of Durham ultimately winning the award. Congratulations to all of the nominees!