Economic Development Lethbridge adds labour demand to help job hunters
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 12, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com Economic Development Lethbridge (EDL) has added a labour demand tool to their Choose Lethbridge website, to help Lethbridge and area job seekers and businesses. In a release EDL states the new digital tool uses AI to scrape local and national job boards, selected by EDL, then list all current, and past jobs in several different formats.
 The tool, developed by Elev8 Web Studio and Workforce Windsor Essex, allows job finders to find potential employment opportunities all in one place and allows business and industry to analyze workforce needs and patterns for certain sectors and communities.
 Economic Development Lethbridge CEO, Trevor Lewington said in a release the new tool helps address what they have heard over the past couple years in their annual Brighter Together business survey.
 “Business and industry have mentioned that finding and retaining workers, access to a qualified workforce and upskilling or reskilling workers are all concerns facing local businesses. This new tool, combined with the Rural Renewal and Entrepreneur Streams are just a couple ways we’re helping businesses with workforce needs.”
 EDL has spent the past few months working on setting up the new component of their website with developers. The program scrapes local jobs from nearly 40 national job boards including Indeed, Kijiji, Workopolis and others, and combines them with postings from some of the bigger institutions in Lethbridge to create the report.
 Users can browse current job openings currently available in the Lethbridge region.
 Market Intelligence Advisor for EDL, Mike Prociw said in the release they are using the power of technology and innovation to give job seekers a better understanding of what roles and positions may be available to them.
 “Whether it’s looking for a new position, comparing duties and salaries (if available) for similar roles currently held by individuals, or finding opportunities to look for trends in the workforce, job seekers now have tools to make better decisions when it comes to their employment,” said Prociw.
 Information for the Labour Demand Tool is updated daily to make sure the most current job postings are made available and positions that have expired or been filled are moved off the website.
 EDL will keep track of all postings in an attempt to offer quality data and analytics regarding work and labour numbers for the region.
 Flexahopper Plastics CEO and Board Chair of EDL, Adriana Mercader said in the release that  every sector is looking for workers right now in Lethbridge, and with a 5.3 per cent unemployment rate in their CMA this past June, finding quality employees is becoming harder than ever before.
 “Being able to analyze what our competitors are doing regarding wages, benefits and other factors is now much easier with all the information located in one place. I’m confident that EDL will use the new tools and programs to help increase awareness and provide solutions for our municipality,” said Mercader. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 4
-3
