Ever since I arrived at Fleming in 2007, I’ve heard from professors, guest lecturers and business professionals that our beloved “Electric City” has lost its spark. This has been a hot topic for politicians federally and municipally. We need to tap into a frontrunner mindset as we progress to building a local knowledge-based economy.
Peterborough is a largely “untapped” talent market. This means that businesses have not accessed the full potential that can be brought from the thousands of young, gifted, professionals that our post secondary institutions are pumping out annually.
The bulk of students who’ve been educated in Peterborough for the past 2 to 4 years are walking out the door to the GTA or even out West. Peterborough’s unemployment rate jumped to 11.2% over the summer. Compare that to 8.1% in Toronto and 7.6% in Oshawa and this “crisis,” as City Councilor Keith Riel stated in last week’s Peterborough Examiner, is in need of immediate attention.
Factors for the recent climb in the unemployment rate can be attributed to students moving to Peterborough for strictly academic purposes. Students increase the population, but in many cases, they don’t work, helping with the escalation of the jobless rate.
But that is not the only reason. In February of 2004, SHI Consulting, a research firm based out of Toronto, stated that almost 10,000 residents commute out of the city and area to work every day. That’s approximately 10% of Peterborough and area’s population leaving our labour market to work somewhere else every day.
Moreover, student employment has dropped overall by almost 50% during the recession according to Statistics Canada. The number of students able to find a job dropped 3 percentage points between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. The students who were fortunate enough to land paying positions mainly ended up in the service industry.This stat resonates across Canada, not just Peterborough. Needless to say, there is an untapped fresh, motivated and talented labor market moving into server and cashier jobs as opposed to jobs that suit individuals’ particular skills.
Peterborough’s business organizations are slowly integrating a shift in this frame of mind, and the Chamber of Commerce has a new student mentorship program that Fleming and Trent business students can apply for. But this is not sufficient.
We need to ask why emphasis isn’t being placed on finding students jobs in Peterborough’s local economy. As the election draws near, think about my last article in Issue 0 about the impact our generation can make on the political process with the right motivation and platforms.
Get out and vote on October 6. Ask Peterborough politicians what they are doing to help young professionals get jobs, become established and apply our skills. Ask them how they intend to build a knowledge-based economy when the majority of one fifth of the “knowledge talent” they’re helping develop isn’t fully getting integrated.
On both ends of the spectrum, Peterborough is one of the sleeping dragons of Ontario, whether providing services or tapping into the labour market. Don’t you think it’s time we woke our city up?
