A new consortium has been formed that will allow regions of southwestern and midwestern Ontario to easily share information related to jobs and the economy.
The Southwest Ontario Data Consortium is made up of six founding members. It consists of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board (which covers Bruce, Grey, Huron, and Perth counties), Workforce Windsor-Essex, Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, the City of London, and the Workforce Collective in Niagara.
Dana Soucie, Executive Director of the Four County Labour Market Planning Board, says the consortium will give the six founding member areas access now to key data from the Community Data Program. That includes economic data, workforce data, and a lot more, which Soucie says is key for planning and developing new ideas.
"It's a proven fact that with evidence-based data, you learn more about the details about what's happening in your area, and you can do better strategic planning and looking at what areas need to be addressed," Soucie explained.
Soucie notes it's important to have data to also be aware of and see the differences that particular areas may have compared to neighbouring areas.
"That allows us to see that we are not the same as the picture of Ontario or Canada. We have unique issues and challenges that we need to work through," added Soucie. "We must have more than one set of data and look at it at multiple angles, because, for example, workforce stories are complicated and workforce touches everything."
When it comes to local employment numbers and trying to pin down the overall health of a region's job market, Soucie says you can never have too much information. This consortium will now give all members complete and unlimited access to critical data that can help show how healthy, or potentially unhealthy, a region's job market is.
"When you're talking about workforce, I call it human capital. That's really what you're looking at because human capital is employers, it's job seekers, it's what makes or world go around and our workforce, and it's really important to understand what's happening with them," Soucie concluded.
As the lead for this new consortium, the Four County Labour Market Planning Board is encouraging anyone with questions or who wants to become a member to access the data to visit the Community Data Program site at www.communitydata.ca or reach out to the staff at info@planningboard.ca or 519-881-2725.
