Statement of Purpose
The Workforce Planning Board of Waterloo Wellington Dufferin (WPB), a non-profit organization, is seeking proposals to support a youth employment project that will look at labour force characteristics and industry employment for this demographic, pre-COVID-19 and during the pandemic. The key objective of this research will be to create as comprehensive a report as possible around youth employment which will help to inform future programming and opportunities for the community when supporting this population during and post-COVID-19.

Job demand in our region has more than doubled since April. According to the findyourjob.ca June job demand report there were 6,054 jobs posted in June 2020. That's up 40% from May and more than double the 2,782 jobs posted in April. You can find out more in the June Job Demand Report.

Stats Canada released the latest unemployment numbers and Unemployment (unadjusted) in Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge increased to 11.1% in May from 8.3% in April, and Guelph’s increased to 13.3% compared to 8.8% in April. In May of 2019, Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge had an unemployment rate of 5.2% and Guelph was sitting at 4.9%. The good news is online job postings for Waterloo Wellington Dufferin also increased last month, providing opportunities for jobseekers. According to findyourjob.ca, there was a 55% increase in online job postings in May when compared with April of 2020. There were over 4,300 jobs posted in May of 2020 compared to just under 2,800 in April. The number of new job postings also increased substantially last month. May of 2020 saw 2,424 new postings compared to 1,786 in April.