VANCOUVER ISLAND – The Provincial Government has committed more than $160,000 to help Vancouver Island manufacturers develop a comprehensive labour-market strategy, which will address priority training and skills-shortage issues affecting the manufacturing sector in the region.
This investment is part of a broader Sector Labour Market Partnerships project led by Harbour Digital Media, which began in the fall of 2015. With the funding announced today, the BC government has invested over $190,000 in the project to support employer engagement and labour-market information research, as well as strategy development, for the Island’s manufacturing sector.
“Organizing and aggregating the labour market issues for the Vancouver Island / Coastal manufacturing community has been an extremely positive and encouraging project,” says John Juricic, owner, Harbour Digital Media. “Manufacturers in this region are excited and optimistic to be able to communicate their labour-market issues to government and work towards solving and dealing with them directly, within a sustainable, constructive and long-term framework.”
The strategy consultation will be completed in early 2017, culminating in a final report that will recommend specific activities for possible implementation in the next phase of the project.
British Columbia’s manufacturing sector is the third-largest contributor to the province’s economy and a key part of the BC Jobs Plan, generating $15 billion in revenue and supporting approximately 172,500 jobs.
The Sector Labour Market Partnerships Program is funded through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement. The program helps employers understand and respond to changing labour market demands, and ensures that training and education programs in BC are aligned with industry’s labour-market needs and priorities.
