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New figures point to dramatic turnaround in number of London-area workers

Four years ago, London had a problem, being the worst in big-city Canada for the proportion of working-age adults sitting out the job market, neither working nor looking for jobs.

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Four years ago, London had a problem, being the worst in big-city Canada for the proportion of working-age adults sitting out the job market, neither working nor looking for jobs.

Now, buoyed by a stampede back into the job market, the city has posted the greatest increase of any Ontario metro area in the employment rate of people in their prime working years.

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Chalk up the dramatic U-turn to London’s booming population as the city becomes a desired destination for people looking for job opportunities and a cheaper cost of living as well as for companies looking to expand their businesses, observers say.

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In 2018, the percentage of people in their prime working years — between the ages of 25 and 54 — who were employed in the London area was only 75.3 per cent, the worst rate in big-city Canada.

Since then, and despite the economic onslaught caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure jumped to 85.1 per cent in January 2022, a increase of 9.8 percentage points.

The London area includes St. Thomas, Strathroy and portions of Middlesex and Elgin counties.

“While all (metropolitan areas) across Ontario have seen an increase in the employment rate for these ages, London experienced the most dramatic increase,” said King’s University College demographer Don Kerr, who crunched the Statistics Canada data.

“And this growth has been more rapid than the growth in the size of the working-age population over this same period.”

Just as impressive has been the rate of job creation in London, with the city adding nearly 50,000 jobs over the same four years, Kerr noted.

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As of December, the number of people employed in the London area was 292,900, while the region’s unemployment rate sat at 5.9 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

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That would put London’s employment up by about 20 per cent since 2018, the second highest rate of increase in Ontario, Kerr said.

“That has to be considered a good news story for the city,” he said, adding most of the gains, about 45,300 jobs, were full-time positions.

London’s ability to attract new talent and workers over the past few years has played a big factor in the improved statistics, said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“London, for the longest time, had been one of the best-kept secrets in Ontario,” he said. “But, as we know from population increases and employment growth, that secret has been out over the last five years now.

“This great improvement has come about as a result of a significant migration of a skilled workforce to London, as we’ve seen from housing growth, population growth and job growth over the last several years,” he added.

Between 2016 and 2021, the London region was the fastest growing community in Ontario, its population jumping by an astonishing 10 per cent, the latest census showed.

The strength of that growth continued last year, with the region growing by three per cent between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, Statistics Canada said.

Several factors have contributed to the recent streak of growth.

Key among them is London’s housing and rental markets, which, while they skyrocketed over the past several years, remain more affordable than many communities closer to Toronto.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the work-from-home phenomenon that followed also accelerated that migration trend as it allowed more people to relocate farther away from their places of work while making cities like London, with their cheaper cost of living, more desirable destinations.

New job opportunities, such as the thousands of jobs being created by companies such as Maple Leaf Foods, Amazon and Dr. Oetker, have also made many people decide to relocate to London, Lakhotia said.

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“There’s certainly way more demand for skilled and talented workforce than supply, and we expect the demand to continue growing as well with so many employers that are currently building or expanding their facilities, as well as the projected growth coming over the rest of this year,” he said.

But not everything is rosy in the latest figures. The data also show the pace of job creation slowed significantly in the second half of 2022.

An expected recession this year could also take its toll on the local economy. The Conference Board of Canada, for instance, is forecasting “sluggish” job growth for London in 2023.

Lakhotia, however, remains optimistic about the city’s capacity to weather the storm.

“What we are trying to do is create a more sustainable economy by attracting a variety of different industries, not just manufacturing,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of growth in food processing, a lot of growth in life sciences industries, as well as our technology and knowledge-based industries.

“So we feel that by keeping a diverse range of economic opportunities, we will be able to better withstand the economic slowdown.”

jjuha@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JuhaatLFPress

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