While the auto industry is relatively stable and the housing market booms, a forecast for the economy in Windsor-Essex points out some real challenges in the years to come.
Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Marchand says there are a lot of jobs going unfilled, and a lot of people without jobs.
"If you ask employers in addition to the cost of electricity and the carbon tax, what is the number one issue, they'll say they can't find people," says Marchand. "It's a conundrum because we have a declining unemployment rate but also a declining participation rate."
The unemployment rate in Windsor was 5.4% in January. Statistics Canada does not release monthly participation rates for cities.
"We have to reconcile this," says Marchand, explaining that the chamber of commerce will be taking a leadership role in a collective impact group studying how to reverse participation rates and inject the estimated $600-million left out of the local economy.
Provincially, the gap is believed to be costing $25-billion.
Compared to the rest of the province, Marchand says Windsor is performing at about the middle of the pack.
"There's some areas that we're below and some areas that we're above," he says, pointing out the auto sector remains the biggest contributor to economic performance. "The auto sector has had a nice rebound but are we at the peak, or are we going to continue the growth? Probably not."
He says there's a lot of uncertainty for the auto sector too; unanswered questions about what renegotiating the North American Free Trade Deal and a possible border adjustment tax will mean.
While other global factors may be out of our hands at the local level, Marchand says at least Canada will have some say in those developments.