Wanted: 1,500 People To Fill Available Jobs In Saint John
SAINT JOHN – Enterprise Saint John rolled out a three-year strategic plan Tuesday that includes filling 1,500 jobs. The organization also changed its name to Economic Development Greater Saint John (EDGSJ), in part to avoid ongoing confusion with a certain car rental company.
Andrew Oland, the CEO of Moosehead Breweries and chair of the organization, told Huddle the name was changed to reflect the whole region it represents. And also because people often confuse Enterprise Saint John for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, he said.
“It was a surprise for me, so we have to change the name,” he said, laughing.
EDGSJ, as it’s called now, has big plans between now and 2021. Its strategic plan focuses on four pillars: workforce development, entrepreneur development, business investment and innovation, and marketing Greater Saint John.
Its strategic goals include boosting employment by 2.5 per cent a year; increasing the labour force by 2.5 per cent a year; growing the GDP by 0.5 per cent more than that of the province; and raising consumer confidence by 1 index point per year.
The plan drew on research and consultations with focus groups, major employers, business leaders, small enterprises, community leaders, politicians and others.
“Our objective is to create consistent long-term economic growth for greater Saint John,” said Oland. “With the hiring of our new CEO Ron Gaudet last November, we commenced work immediately on our three-year plan.”
“As a board, we challenged Ron to come out with a plan that was focused, straightforward, and one that has smart objectives – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based objectives. And I’m very proud of what Ron and the team have come up with.”
The work has already begun to help employers tackle labour gaps. Oland says there are 1,500 unfilled jobs in the area today, and EDGSJ is working with various agencies to fill “stagnant jobs” at 17 organizations. A stagnant job is one that hasn’t been filled in 90 days. In the first year of the strategic plan, EDGSJ aims to fill 350 of those jobs.
“We’re working with these 17 employers and working to uncover the root causes for why these jobs are unfilled and then what can we do as a community to help those employers fill those jobs,” Oland said. “[The vacancies are] across a broad spectrum of industries and a broad spectrum of jobs.”
To develop the entrepreneurial environment, EDGSJ aims to support the launch of 30 startups and 60 new jobs in the first year. The three-year objective is to see a “strong entrepreneurial pipeline, industry engagement and post-secondary partnerships driving a new level of growth in Saint John start-ups and scale-ups,” according to the strategic plan.
The organization also wants to support new and old industries. Where declining industries in Saint John lost 6,800 jobs between 2006 and 2016, growing sectors added a net 7,225 jobs in the same period.
Overall, there are significant investment opportunities in sectors including energy, cybersecurity, digital health and logistics, Oland said.
And with Saint John recently designated a Free Trade Zone – which allows companies to import goods, assemble and store them, and re-export them with tax and duty deferrals and/or exemptions – there are opportunities there, too, Oland added.
“We’ve recently been granted a foreign trade zone in Saint John, so what can we do to leverage that,” he said.
“What can we do to leverage existing businesses here in Saint John to expand and grow. As well, when we make efforts to attract businesses from away, we have to make sure that they don’t compete with existing businesses because no one wins in that situation.”
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