GODERICH, ONT. -- If you want a job right now, you can find one, according to Huron County Warden Jim Ginn.
“There are a number of businesses in Huron County fulfilling an essential need during the COVID-19 crisis.
From food production and sales to manufacturing goods for medical supplies, making sure essential services are fully staffed is important,” says Ginn, despite millions of jobs lost across Canada.
One of the local companies hiring is Jokey Plastics.
The injection moulding company, based in Goderich, Ont., makes plastic containers for the food and disinfecting wipes industry.
Paul McInnis, head of human resources at Jokey, says they are tripling production of sanitizing wipes containers and are receiving increasing orders for food containers, as well.
They have an immediate need for people to staff their machines to meet demand.
“We had an initial uptick in January when we started seeing the outbreak in China, and (it) has led to a tripling of our staff, and business in that (sanitizing wipes containers) department,” McInnis says.
Farm labour, food processing, delivery drivers, even personal grocery shoppers are just some of the positions available across Ontario today. Not to mention, the demand for personal support workers to work in long-term care homes.
While some jobs may only last the length of the pandemic, the demand for containers for sanitizing wipes isn’t likely to dip, even after COVID-19 stops dominating the headlines.
“I think what we’re going to see is a re-defining of what cleanliness, what sanitization looks like, so I suspect that piece of the business will maintain a level of stability going forward,” says McInnis.
