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  #341  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2016, 1:37 AM
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I just saw a small segment on CHCH that said there are two companies interested in Stelco. One is another steel company, and the other a coal company. I think that is good news anyone other than US Steel would be good. I would like to see coal-dust clouds over Hamilton again. It means economy and a real working harbour.
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  #342  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2016, 5:07 PM
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Hamilton economy to outpace national average in 2016: study

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/63...in-2016-study/

A new Conference Board of Canada study says Hamilton's economy will outpace the national average this year although job growth will remain slow.

The board's latest Metropolitan Outlook Report says Hamilton's economy will remain steady and solid, outpacing the national average for the second straight year.

Alan Arcand, associate director of municipal studies for the Conference Board, said in a news release stronger activity in manufacturing and in non-residential construction, along with healthy gains in services-producing industries will drive healthy overall growth in the city.

Hamilton's economy is expected to grow by 2.2 per cent this year, following a similar increase in 2015. The manufacturing sector and non-residential construction will be growth engines again this year.

Even with U.S. Steel in the process of moving its operations to the United States over the next year, manufacturing output is forecast to rise 2.4 per cent in 2016, as the weak loonie and solid U.S. demand provide a boost to Hamilton's export-oriented manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, a number of non-residential construction projects, including those at McMaster University—a new multi-purpose building and the Gerald Hatch Centre for Engineering Experiential Learning—as well as Phase two of the James Street Go station is expected to keep the local construction sector busy for 2016. Finally, services output growth will remain steady at 2.1 per cent for a third consecutive year.

The pace of job creation will slow in Hamilton this year. Some 3,600 positions were added to payrolls in 2015, while about 2,800 jobs are expected to be created in 2016.
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  #343  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2016, 5:41 PM
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Manufacturing seems to be the ticket. Oil and commodities, not so much — see Edmonton & Calgary:

Halifax’s economy will grow by 2.9 per cent this year as work at the shipyard ramps up on Arctic offshore patrol ships.
• The weak Canadian dollar will benefit manufacturing and tourism, helping Québec City’s GDP grow by 2 per cent in 2016.
Montréal’s GDP will rise 2.3 per cent in 2016, thanks to the recovery in manufacturing and steady business services growth.
• Ongoing strength in non-residential construction will help Ottawa–Gatineau’s economy grow by 1.7 per cent this year.
Toronto’s GDP will grow by 2.8 per cent in 2016, with notable help from manufacturing, construction, and business services.
• Strength in construction and manufacturing will support growth of 2.2 per cent in Hamilton’s economy this year.
Winnipeg’s economy will grow 2.5 per cent in 2016 as manufacturing and construction activity pick up.
• Weak prices for oil and other commodities will limit Regina’s real GDP growth to 1.1 per cent in 2016.
Saskatoon’s economy will expand by only by 1.1 per cent this year, held back by low prices for oil and other commodities.
Calgary’s real GDP will decline by 1.2 per cent in 2016 as low oil prices continue to hamper the region’s economy.
• Sideswiped by low oil prices, Edmonton’s economy will contract by 1.3 per cent this year.
• Strength in manufacturing, construction, and the services sector will help GDP grow by 3.3 per cent in Vancouver in 2016.
Victoria’s GDP will rise 2.3 per cent in 2016 thanks to non-residential construction and renewed public administration growth.



More detail via CBoC's GTHA news release:

"Hamilton's economy is expected to grow by 2.2 per cent this year, similar to 2015’s 2.1 per cent increase. The manufacturing sector and non-residential construction will be growth engines again this year. Even with U.S. Steel in the process of moving its operations to the United States over the next year, manufacturing output is forecast to rise 2.4 per cent in 2016, as the weak loonie and solid U.S. demand provide a boost to Hamilton's export-oriented manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, a number of non-residential construction projects, including those at McMaster University—a new multi-purpose building and the Gerald Hatch Centre for Engineering Experiential Learning—as well as Phase two of the James Street GO station is expected to keep the local construction sector busy for 2016. Finally, services output growth will remain steady at 2.1 per cent for a third consecutive year.

Like Toronto, the pace of job creation will slow in Hamilton this year. Some 3,600 positions were added to payrolls in 2015, while about 2,800 jobs are expected to be created in 2016."
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  #344  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2016, 1:30 PM
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Overall MoneySense Places to Live Ranking, 2016/2015/2014/2013/2012

Hamilton ON = #62 / #41 / #77 / #63 / #77
Burlington ON = #2 / #3 / #5 / #3 / #2
Oakville ON = #3 / #3 / #7 / #5 / #17
Mississauga ON = #54 / #61 / #72 / #48 / #54
Toronto ON = #43 / #35 / #32 / #28 / #47
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  #345  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2016, 4:01 PM
eatboots eatboots is offline
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I guess it depends on what you want, I've been to Oakville and Burlington numerous times and I don't see what the appeal is.
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  #346  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2016, 11:06 AM
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Originally Posted by eatboots View Post
I guess it depends on what you want, I've been to Oakville and Burlington numerous times and I don't see what the appeal is.
Yeah they should add Walkscore to their criteria and see what happens.
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  #347  
Old Posted Aug 6, 2016, 7:58 PM
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Hamilton unemployment rate rises to 6.1 per cent

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/67...-6-1-per-cent/

Hamilton has lost 13,000 jobs over the past year.

The most recent Labour Force Survey numbers from Statistics Canada show the number of people working in the Hamilton region plunged from 392,200 in July 2015 to 378,300 last month.

That sharp decline pushed the local unemployment rate up to 6.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent last year.

In human terms, that means the number of people counted as officially unemployed in the region is up by more than 11 per cent to 24,800 from 22,300 over the same period.

The July numbers mark the third straight monthly decline in employment.
...
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  #348  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2017, 2:46 PM
Zmonkey Zmonkey is offline
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1000 new jobs downtown Hamilton over past year,mist an improvement but still 1000 to me just doesn't seem like that big of a growth rate. With all condos/lofts happening around downtown you will need some quality job growth for young professionals. Hope we get more of that, even me after a few years here may be headed back to Toronto. Just hard to take next step here.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/70...milton-survey/
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  #349  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2017, 4:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zmonkey View Post
1000 new jobs downtown Hamilton over past year,mist an improvement but still 1000 to me just doesn't seem like that big of a growth rate. With all condos/lofts happening around downtown you will need some quality job growth for young professionals. Hope we get more of that, even me after a few years here may be headed back to Toronto. Just hard to take next step here.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/70...milton-survey/
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem like a lot. But it's quite a big jump compared to previous years. Growth has been erratic.

From Jason Thorne's Twitter account:

Source Tweet


The mix of job types is important too though, so it's great to see 950 more people employed in the "Professional/Scientific" sector, and 439 in FIRE. These sectors especially depend on other business services, so they can lead to "spin off" employment.

To jump from a current 189 jobs/ha to the target of 250 will take quite a lot of growth and new business development -- the downtown would need to support more than 34,000 jobs to reach that density. But if the city can turn this kind of one-year gain into a sustained trend, 8+ years of growth would do it.

The planned transportation service improvements (local and regional) should help with employment growth over the longer term.

Last edited by ScreamingViking; Jan 24, 2017 at 5:34 AM.
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  #350  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2017, 9:07 PM
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There's a fair bit of fuzziness to the employment survey data as well. It's not as if they're reporting median income or person-years of employment. In the City's jobs-per-hectare math, seasonal jobs (i.e.: "Temporary / Seasonal / Contract: Full or part time employees hired to work for a company on a temporary basis") and part-time jobs are weighted the same as full-time jobs, which strikes me as problematic. That's arguably a complex and nuanced discussion, but the lack of any qualitative perspective or granular analysis is a little disappointing. It would also be great to have this compared against city-wide employment trends (EcDev has apparently been gathering data on the six downtown BIAs since 2011).

2010

Full-time 17,239 (77%)
Part-time 4,451 (20%)
Seasonal 771 (3%)
Total 22,531 (100%)


2012

Full-time 18,252 (76%)
Part-time 5,283 (22%)
Seasonal 480 (2%)
Total 24,015 (100%)


2014

Full-time 18,140 (74%)
Part-time 5,780 (23%)
Seasonal 780 (3%)
Total 24,700 (100%)


2015

Full-time 17,611 (71%)
Part-time 5,979 (24%)
Seasonal 1,280 (5%)
Total 24,870 (100%)


2016

Full-time 17,834 (69%)
Part-time 6,652 (26%)
Seasonal 1,446 (5%)
Total 25,932 (100%)
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Last edited by thistleclub; Feb 1, 2017 at 11:29 AM.
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  #351  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2017, 4:26 AM
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I wonder if construction jobs are making up that increase in the "seasonal" category since 2014.

The full-time total certainly tells a different story on its own.
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  #352  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2017, 2:17 PM
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Originally Posted by ScreamingViking View Post
I wonder if construction jobs are making up that increase in the "seasonal" category since 2014.
Hard to say how much of the "seasonal" figure is construction. That's one of the frustrations of this abstract overview (construction would be classified under the catch-all "Other" category), complicated by the fact that this is self-reported information. Even so, the parameters of the employment category would potentially accommodate a certain number of construction jobs:

Temporary/Seasonal/Contract
Full or part time employees hired to work for a company on a temporary basis. This can include contract workers and seasonal staff, but excludes workers hired through subcontractors.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ScreamingViking View Post
The full-time total certainly tells a different story on its own.
The picture definitely changes once you step back from the year-over-year tracking.

It's unfortunate that the City wasn't collating this from, say, 2001 on. Because they began gathering this data in 2010, the picture is entirely post-recession. But in that seven-year period, the downtown economy has gained 595 full-time jobs (+3.5%), 2,201 part-time jobs (+49.4%), and 675 seasonal/temporary/contract jobs (+87.5%).

As you previously noted, growth has been erratic.
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Last edited by thistleclub; Feb 1, 2017 at 11:28 AM.
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  #353  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2017, 4:51 PM
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'Hamilton is the real eye-catcher' in nationwide jobs numbers, says report
Hamilton CMA posts 'massive' job growth, BMO economist says, but cautions commuters may cloud the picture

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...port-1.4347990

Employment in the Hamilton census area grew by the second largest amount in the country in the third quarter, a BMO economic analysis shows.

But commuters may be clouding the rosy picture about jobs in the city, as many of those employed may be working in other centres.

The Hamilton census area – which includes Burlington and Grimsby – posted 12.5 per cent growth in employment from the same period a year earlier, according to the third-quarter BMO Regional Labour Market Report Card.

That was behind only Kelowna, B.C., for employment growth.

BMO economist and report author Robert Kavcic called the increase "massive" and noted that the unemployment rate had also fallen in the Hamilton CMA to 4.2 per cent.

"Hamilton is the real eye-catcher," Kavcic wrote.

But he issued a warning, because the numbers come from a survey based on where you live, not where you work:

"As we often caution, this partly reflects commuting out of Hamilton to jobs located elsewhere in the GTA," Kavcic wrote.


I don't think this is really bad news and with time things will balance out over time. One issue I see is that there's a fair number of software developers in Hamilton, but not enough places to work and for those that are here, the pay differential between here and Toronto is large. Hopefully some more companies will start to take advantage of that talent.
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  #354  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2017, 5:20 PM
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Originally Posted by drpgq View Post
'Hamilton is the real eye-catcher' in nationwide jobs numbers, says report
Hamilton CMA posts 'massive' job growth, BMO economist says, but cautions commuters may cloud the picture

.....

But commuters may be clouding the rosy picture about jobs in the city, as many of those employed may be working in other centres.

...
But he issued a warning, because the numbers come from a survey based on where you live, not where you work:

"As we often caution, this partly reflects commuting out of Hamilton to jobs located elsewhere in the GTA," Kavcic wrote.


I don't think this is really bad news and with time things will balance out over time. One issue I see is that there's a fair number of software developers in Hamilton, but not enough places to work and for those that are here, the pay differential between here and Toronto is large. Hopefully some more companies will start to take advantage of that talent.
I think this study has a fundamental flaw, if the survey failed to capture where people work. Given that planning decisions rely on solid data, maybe it should be tossed out.
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  #355  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2017, 3:23 PM
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I don't think it is flawed it just doesn't measure where, but there's still useful information. I doubt that there could be a 12.5% growth without at least a decent amount of growth within the CMA (although that could be people commuting to Burlington from Hamilton).

With such low employment for people in Hamilton, Hamilton employers would have to offer more money than in the past. I would be curious to see if this has affected the participation rate much as I think in 2017 that's a better measure than the unemployment rate.
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  #356  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2017, 3:52 PM
movingtohamilton movingtohamilton is offline
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I don't think it is flawed it just doesn't measure where, but there's still useful information. I doubt that there could be a 12.5% growth without at least a decent amount of growth within the CMA (although that could be people commuting to Burlington from Hamilton).

With such low employment for people in Hamilton, Hamilton employers would have to offer more money than in the past. I would be curious to see if this has affected the participation rate much as I think in 2017 that's a better measure than the unemployment rate.
Fair enough.

I have many questions about the health of the Hamilton economy. Are we seeing higher participation rates, but in low-skill low-pay jobs? Opening another T Horton's in Jackson Square is not a bellweather of a booming local economy.

I'm concerned about the dominance of a "public-sector industry":health-care. It's not exactly an engine for growth. I'd rather see an aggressive push to expand the tech sector here. There are only so many people with those skills who are prepared to pay a $1700/month rent for a 1-bedroom condo in Toronto so they can work in the King/Spadina area. Hamilton is a natural for this sector.
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  #357  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2017, 5:35 PM
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A good indication on how the Hamilton labour market is doing is the number of retail outlets with help wanted signs in their windows. Just look around when you are out shopping, almost every store I go into has a sign up looking for help. That is an indication that they are having trouble finding help which usually means people are finding higher paying jobs.

Something else I haven't seen since the 70's are factories with signs outside advertising jobs. One factory near where I work in Burlington had a sign out for almost a month advertising $20 per hour jobs, with benefits. That was just the starting wage according to the sign. I've also seen signs like that in the east mountain industrial area as well as the Ancaster industrial park.

There are lots of jobs out there, people just have to look around.
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  #358  
Old Posted Oct 19, 2017, 8:35 PM
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New video on the Hamilton Economic Development page. Scroll to the bottom.
http://www.investinhamilton.ca/
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  #359  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2017, 1:15 AM
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Record year for city's development applications
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7...-applications/

The city received a record number of development applications this year, and there's no indication that high will drop any time soon, staff say.

Planning director Steve Robichaud said, as of November, the city had received 1,212 applications.

Another 50 are expected before the end of 2017.

"It's been a very busy year on the development side," he told a planning committee meeting Tuesday.

"I don't see that trend slowing down any time soon," Jason Thorne, Hamilton's planning and economic development manager, added later in the meeting.

In the last five years, the average has been 1,080, Robichaud said after the meeting.

These development applications could include minor variances, zoning bylaw and official plan amendments, plan of subdivision and heritage permits, he added.

"Hamilton is back — big time," Robichaud said.

He said the increase is not concentrated in one single type of activity or location in the city.

There are investments in the rural economy such as farmers expanding greenhouse operations, new subdivisions and business parks in suburban areas, and a large number of cranes and restaurant openings downtown, he said.

"It's a really strong, diversified economy in Hamilton and it means that all eight cylinders are firing, which is a good thing," he said.

It also means there's a lot of pressure being put on the city's planning division.

Heading into the summer, they were down about 13 staff, said Robichaud, noting most of those vacancies have since been filled.

Coun. Donna Skelly commended the department but noted she still hears from people frustrated with the "lack of progress."

She said she believes more permits could have been issued in the past year had they not been as short-staffed and questioned whether the recent hires will be able to address that problem.

"We're still carrying a significant workload," said Robichaud. "I'm starting to think we might be a little bit too small."

Currently, city planners have 35 files or more, he said, noting between 20 and 25 would be a "reasonable number."

Coun. Matthew Green said he supports "matching the supply of staffing with the demand."
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  #360  
Old Posted Feb 19, 2018, 1:32 PM
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Commerce Place, Phase II, Mark II

New co-working space in Hamilton
Hamilton Spectator, Feb 19 2018

Regus has opened its first shared workspace and co-working centre in Hamilton.

The world's largest workspace provider has opened a location on the fifth floor of 21 King St. W.

"The reason why we are opening our first flexible and collaborative workspace in Hamilton is based on two key factors," Wayne Berger, executive vice president of Regus Canada, said in a news release. "There's a thriving entrepreneurial community in Hamilton seeking out innovative workspaces, and there's a growing population of people moving to Hamilton to escape Toronto's soaring real estate prices who want a professional and flexible workspace closer to home."

The new centre offers private and shared offices, a large collaborative co-working space and multiple team meeting rooms. The space will also host networking events and educational workshops for the business community.



Elsewhere in the tower…

3rd: Dean D. Paquette & Associate / Burns Associates
4th: Investors Group Financial Services
6th: CIBC Wood Gundy
7th: KPMG
9th: The Createch Group
14th: NET6 Communications
15th: NetAccess Systems / 2Gen Interactive
16th: Canon Canada / Nyland Personal Injury Law / Spergel / JustHosting / Stable Networks
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