Holder's goal: A job for 'every Londoner who wants one'

Mayor Ed Holder wants 13,000 more Londoners to be working by the time this council's term is over in three and a half years.

Holder announced that the Jobs Now task force has started its work.

"Getting 13,000 more Londoners working would take London from the worst Ontario job city to average," Holder said.

"There is a job for virtually every Londoner who wants one."

But those people who aren't working are not being recruited successfully, he said.

The Jobs Now task force will try to find the city's hidden unemployed.

"The task force has been unable to find a model in any Canadian city of how to reach and engage the hidden unemployed," Holder said.

"If we got it right, how many more Londoners could we get working?"

The mayor also announced a London and Area job fair on Tuesday, April 16, at the Western Fair Agriplex.

"London's job problem is hurting our unemployed and our businesses. That hurt affects us all. The hurting must stop," Holder said.

"Understanding, engaging, and connecting our city's hidden unemployment is our goal."

London has the highest not-employed rate of any similar-sized Ontario City.

There are estimates that 78,000 Londoners, or 28 per cent of Londoners aged 25- to 64-year-olds, are not working.

Stats Can says there are 9,000 job openings in the London region.