Investment in 9 projects part of B.C. Jobs Plan
British Columbia is helping employees gain essential skills while increasing productivity for employers through a $1.5-million investment in essential skills training.
As part of Canada Starts Here: The B.C. Jobs Plan, more than 450 British Columbians will benefit from essential skills training through nine SkillsPlus training projects throughout the province.
Through partnerships between businesses, training institutions and service providers in each community, SkillsPlus brings training to the workplace, building them into everyday employee training and work practices. Essential skills are identified as reading text, document use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, continuous learning, thinking skills and computer use.
Benefits of SkillsPlus have included improved customer service skills, increased confidence in the ability to master new skills and improvements in computer literacy and understanding of written instructions, said the government.
“Our government’s top priority is job creation and economic growth,” said Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley. “By enabling British Columbians to develop their essential skills, through projects such as SkillsPlus, we are helping to ensure that they can fully participate in the labour market and contribute to their communities.”
The latest investment in these training projects is in addition to $4 million that has been allocated to SkillsPlus since the program’s inception in 2009. Since this time, about 900 employees throughout the province have received essential skills training in the following sectors: tourism and hospitality; retail, wholesale and grocery; health services; construction; social housing; security; manufacturing; forestry; and mining.
Eligible organizations include small to medium-sized employers with 500 or fewer employees.
