Job growth good in Portage
October 2, 2007
Portage Daily Graphic
Written by: Leah Kellar
Local officials say city's prospects much higher than provincial average
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David Stovin of Portage la Prairie is a saw operator at Hi-Tec Industries Inc. The company is one of several in Portage with a high job growth rate. However, it is lacking skilled trades workers from the local area. Staff photo by Leah Kella |
Portage la Prairie appears to be a beacon of employment opportunity, despite a report placing Manitoba last on the list of provinces with good job growth.
“That wouldn’t hold true in our region. In the last five years, we’ve had Simplot and major retail development and commercial additions, so I would think that we’ve exceeded the rate here,” said Dean Yaremchuk, community and economic development co-ordinator for the City of Portage during an interview with The Graphic yesterday.
According to Manitoba Bureau of Statistics’ (MBS) most recent quarterly economic summary, the province came in dead last with its average annual job growth from 2002 to 2006 at 1.98 per cent.
Manitoba fared well in 2002 with a 2.3 per cent job growth rate and was fourth among the provinces, but it fell to ninth spot the following year and placed eighth among the provinces in 2004. The province’s worst year fell well below the national average of 2.4 per cent in 2003 with a job growth rate of only 0.5 per cent.
In spite of the overall decline of job growth within the province, Yaremchuk believes Portage has defied the trend and maintained a good rate of job growth.
“We, historically, have always been below the provincial unemployment rate. There’s always been a wealth of jobs being created here, so I don’t think low job growth is the situation here, at least in our community and our region,” he said.
Some business development companies in the area also point to Portage’s central location in the province as a rural hub of activity that has attracted new commercial retail, agriculture and manufacturing jobs outside of Winnipeg over the past five years.
“The region is a very prosperous part of Manitoba, and people are having confidence in the economy and the region to make those kind of investments,” said Bryan Spencer, business and project manager for Central Plains Inc. “It’s not only with new businesses moving in, but the confidence that existing businesses have to expand and relocate within Portage, such as the new Rona store and the Portage Co-op.”
He noted some recent examples of employment opportunities with H&H Trailers expanding into MacGregor and new retail jobs in the city’s west end, with several new stores opening in the past year and more to come.
Steady employment growth has also been seen among some of the area’s largest employment providers including Hi-Tec Industries Inc. in Portage and Airport Technologies in Southport.
However, there is also a down side for some companies with a high reputation of job growth.
“The particular labour em-ployee base that we have in Portage la Prairie is not conducive for our industries. We need a lot of welders and machinists and there’s not an abundance in this area.”
He noted Hi-Tec currently has 10 vacant positions for skilled workers. The company has been making use of the Provincial Nominee Program to attract skilled immigrants to fill positions in the past.
-- With files from Sun Media
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