It’s incredibly important to us that the people who work at the airport, and those in neighboring communities, have access to job opportunities that will allow them to reach their full potential and create prosperity for their families. Through our Community Investment Fund, the Propeller Project, we want to address employment issues, and specifically the issue of underemployment and skilled people not occupying jobs that call on them to use the full breadth of their skills and education.
The underemployed are found in different segments of the population. Young people, women, immigrants, people living with disabilities, LGBTQI2+ and the indigenous can all face higher barriers to finding meaningful, long-term employment. It is estimated that nearly 850,000 Canadians are affected by underemployment and that the economy would gain up to $17.1 billion a year if the skills and work experiences in these demographic groups were appropriately utilized.
For this reason, we collaborated with Deloitte on a whitepaper we’ve called “Uncovering Underemployment: Tapping into the potential of our workforce.” It’s an attempt to fill the vacuum by exploring the causes and consequences of underemployment in Canada, and we hope the whitepaper will serve as an initial step in identifying policies that could address the issue.
At the same time as we’re launching the whitepaper, we’ve also today announced we will commit 2019 funding from the Propeller Project, our community investment initiative, to programs that work to address underemployment. This year’s funding totals $1 million and a call for submissions from interested organizations is currently open.
If you’re a community organization operating in Brampton, Etobicoke or Mississauga and your programs relate specifically on the opportunities for progress identified in the whitepaper, learn how you can submit for funding.