Growing the Economy and Helping to Create Jobs
News Release
2014 Jobs & Economy Progress Report Shows a More Prosperous Ontario
April 27, 2014
Ontario is making significant progress in growing the economy and helping to create jobs for today and for tomorrow.
The province released its Jobs & Economy Progress Report today. It outlines achievements that are setting Ontario up for long-term success by creating a competitive climate for business, supporting a skilled and healthy workforce and building modern infrastructure.
Key accomplishments since 2003 include:
- Launching the Youth Jobs Strategy in 2013, which is investing $295 million over two years to generate training, mentorship and job opportunities for 30,000 youth across the province.
- Committing more than $40 million through the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund since 2012 to help create more than 2,000 new jobs and help retain more than 10,000 jobs.
- Committing more than $70 million since 2008 through the Eastern Ontario Development Fund to help create more than 3,000 new jobs and help retain more than 12,500 jobs.
- Committing more than $897 million since 2003 through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to help create or retain more than 22,900 jobs and co-op placements across Northern Ontario.
- Committing more than $167 million since 2003 to the Rural Economic Development program to generate more than $1.2 billion in new economic activity and support the creation or retention of more than 35,000 jobs.
- Supporting apprentices and employers through multiple initiatives. In 2014, there are approximately 120,000 apprentices learning a trade today, which is about 60,000 more than in 2002-03.
- Increasing the Employer Health Tax (EHT) exemption from $400,000 to $450,000 of Ontario payroll, saving eligible employers up to $975 per year. This means that more than 60,000 private sector employers in Ontario are now paying less EHT.
- Eliminating 80,000 regulatory requirements under the Open for Business initiative to cut red tape for businesses.
- Ensuring competitive tax rates for businesses. Ontario’s combined federal-provincial general corporate income tax rate is now almost 13 percentage points lower than the average combined federal-state corporate income tax rate in the United States.
- Attracting billions of dollars in new private sector investments through Ontario’s Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program, generating more than 31,000 jobs and significantly increasing the amount of clean energy.
- Positioning Ontario as a North American leader in venture capital. Since launching the Ontario Venture Capital Fund in 2008, Ontario’s investment has leveraged $970 million in private sector capital while creating and retaining more than 1,600 jobs in the province.
- Saving businesses more than $9 billion per year through initiatives such as corporate income tax rate reductions, the HST and eliminating the capital tax.
Reducing red tape for businesses and creating a globally competitive environment to attract new investments and create more jobs in the province is part of the government’s economic plan. The comprehensive plan and its six priorities focus on Ontario’s greatest strengths – its people and strategic partnerships.
- Last year, Ontario created 95,700 new jobs — that is nearly 43 per cent of all new jobs across Canada in 2013.
- Ontario’s GDP rose by 1.3 per cent in 2013 and all private-sector forecasters expect modest growth to continue.
- The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has recognized Ontario’s success in cutting red tape by repeatedly ranking it among the top jurisdictions in Canada to do business.
“We are committed to making Ontario one of the best places in the world in which to do business. Creating a globally competitive business environment is growing the economy, creating jobs and setting the province up for success for years to come.”
Kathleen Wynne
Premier of Ontario
NT3
