Collier | Unemployment needs fix from all goverment levels

Windsor will end this year much like it began: near the top of the national ranks of unemployment.

November's unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent, second-highest in the country.

CBC Windsor's municipal affairs expert, Cheryl Collier, says that number, despite it falling, isn't anything to brag about.

"You can't assume that lower numbers mean that people are finding work," she says. "The unemployment rate only measures folks who are actively looking for work.  If those folks have dropped out of the job seeking race, they are not counted - if this happens in significant numbers, it decreases the unemployment numbers."

Collier says municipal politicians are to blame, not entirely, anyway, for the unemployment rate.

"The fact that local politicians speak to the job rate as something that has to be fixed [by them], feeds the impression that they can do something about it," she says.

That isn't always the case.

"The bigger movers on jobs are at the macro level," Collier said.

That includes national-level spending and taxation levels; monetary policy; and incentives for businesses.

It also includes international influences like global market fluctuations, international trade and foreign markets.

"None of these are impacted by local governments," Collier says.

Collier said municipal government can do something.

She said land use plans, zoning and some taxes can affect investment.

"Commercial property tax, water and sewer rates are the ones that really impact business more - not as much residential taxes. We can have a little bit of impact," Collier said.

Windsor city council just approved its sixth consecutive property tax freeze.