City employment centre could close next month

Peterborough Employment Resource Centre could close at the end of next month under recommendations that go to city council Monday.

The city would shift 1.5 of the 2.5 full-time-equivalent positions at the employment resource centre to the social services division to continue to assist Ontario Works recipients, who make up about 60% of the current users of the employment resource centre.

“All other employment service currently handled by PERC will be redirected to other employment support service providers,” employment services program manager Mike Gannon states in a report. “Staff estimate approximately 3,360 community members will use the outside employment services agencies.”

The provincial government clawed back its funding for the centre at the end of July last year. It concentrated the Employment Ontario services in the city at the Community Resources for Employers and Workers at 1550 Lansdowne St. W., Employment Planning and Counselling Peterborough at 138 Simcoe St. and Northern Lights Canada in Brookdale Plaza on Chemong Rd.

Despite the drop in provincial funding, the city and county continued to operate Peterborough Employment Resource Centre with a scaleddown service level.

Closing the centre would decrease the employment support budget by $75,783 to $102,069 from $177,852. The municipal share would be $51,034 with the city paying $42,358 and the county contributing the remaining $8,676.

The employment resource centre provides services such as workshops, one-on-one support for preparing resumes and help with job search planning.

The existing Peterborough Employment Resource Centre space would be reconfigured for other social services uses.

A smaller employment resource centre would be located on the second floor of the social services offices at 178 Charlotte St., close to the existing workshop group rooms to integrate employment services for Ontario Works clients, Gannon states.

The prospect of the closure looms as the community continues to struggle with unemployment.

Peterborough census metropolitan area, which encompasses the city plus the surrounding four townships, held the unenviable position of having the highest unemployment rate among Canada’s 33 census metropolitan areas last month.

The unemployment rate in the Peterborough area climbed to 11.9% in May from 11.7% in April, Statistics Canada estimated in its Labour Force Survey.

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