Hastings County putting focus on white-collar jobs

By Jennifer Bowman

Hastings County is doing a cultural study to find out how to attract white-collar jobs, said the county’s economic developer.

Andrew Redden, economic developer of Hastings County, is working on the study along with representatives of Belleville and Quinte West. The aim of the study is to bring together, protect, enhance, and promote creative jobs in Hastings County.

They’re not going after blue-collar manufacturing jobs. They’re looking for “people paid to think”, said Redden. That includes lawyers, engineers, senior management, accountants, along with artists, and website designers.

“We’re not going to go after factories and Kellogg’s,” he said.

They’re looking for jobs that pay higher than minimum wage and blue-collar jobs, he said. Thirty to forty per cent of the jobs in Ontario are creative jobs, but they pay more than 50 per cent of the wages. Those are the jobs they’re going after, he said.

“Not to say that it’s bad to go after manufacturing, but we’re not necessarily finding that they’re wanting to come to Hastings County, with the exception of Belleville and Quinte West,” he said.

Redden said they’re going to try to bring people together through the study by town meetings and online interaction to involve youth.

“We have a lot of cultural assets all over Hastings County, but it’s like a patchwork quilt of unique things,” said Redden.