Ontario Investing an Additional $160 Million to Train Workers

The Ontario government is investing an additional $160 million in the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to tackle the labour shortage and help at least 100,000 workers get free training to meet the needs of employers hiring in their communities. The funding will prioritize programs that propose innovative training solutions to help people on social assistance and with prior criminal records find meaningful employment in critical industries like healthcare, auto-manufacturing, information technology, hospitality and the skilled trades.

Roughly 300,000 jobs in Ontario are going unfilled every day, which threatens to hold back the economy and the government’s ambitious infrastructure plans, including building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031. At the same time, more than 800,000 people in Ontario rely on social assistance when the majority are willing, able and eager to work. This includes hundreds of thousands of people who made a mistake in the past and carry a criminal record and have not reoffended – almost half of whom are on social assistance even 15 years after release from prison.

In response, the fourth round of the Skills Development Fund Training Stream will support programs that help them find meaningful work and tackle the labour shortage.

Through its first three rounds, the Skills Development Fund has supported 596 projects in a variety of sectors, helping half a million people take the next step in their careers, including people with disabilities, auto workers, firefighters and construction workers.