Venture Kamloops gets funding to do study on workforce

NEWS — Venture Kamloops will get more than $108,000 in provincial funding to study what’s needed in the workforce over the next five years.

The money will come from Labour Market Partnership funding and will be used to hire a consultant to look at a 10-year forecast of trends and emerging labour market issues, including the future needs of local employers, skills gaps, training requirements and barriers to hiring and retention.

An end-of-project report will be delievered next August that will provide a human resource strategy for 100 Mile House, Ashcroft, Barriere, Blue River, Cache Creek, Chase, Clearwater, Clinton, Lone Butte, Kamloops, Logan Lake, Lytton, Merritt, McBride, Sun Peaks and Valemount.

“The goal of this project is to help facilitate labour market development and growth by assisting industries and communities in this time of transition as new major projects come online and we adapt to an aging and retiring workforce,” said Venture Kamloops spokesperson Colin O’Leary.

“With this data, we hope to not only quantify the disparity between labour supply and demand, both now and in the future, but also to develop strategies to address labour market issues particularly in areas of proven high occupational demand.”