...The diversification provides a wide range of jobs, from skilled trades, at Langley Airport and Gloucester and other industrial sites, to service jobs and lesser skilled jobs that offer first-employment opportunities for youth.
"That's really the strength of the local economy, the diversification we have," Alberts said.
"Now, having almost achieved that goal (one job for each person in the labour force) it is probably time to set a new goal, to have even more jobs than the number of people in the labour force," he said.
Many of the jobs here are held by people who commute from other municipalities, and many Langley Township residents still commute.
A higher ratio of jobs would give even greater opportunity to local residents to work close to home, he said.
According to the report from the Township's long range planner, Paul Crawford, job stimulation will take more direct promotion, as competition from other communities increases (particularly with new industrial areas opening up in Surrey and Abbotsford) and finding new sites for industrial expansion locally becomes more difficult here.
Crawford says the Township continues to place a high importance on building a complete community through provision of employment areas.
An extension of the Township's Carvolth Business Park Plan is underway, and an employment land study will be initiated by the planning department later this year, to review future needs for employment areas...