A community forum that focuses on employment and poverty and will feature several Hamilton-based poverty and labour experts will be held April 18.

The forum will address a paper released jointly by McMaster Professor Wayne Lewchuk and Toronto United Way entitled Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario (PEPSO).

The report’s release in early February attracted national media attention and was attended by then newly-appointed Ontario Premiere Kathleen Wynne.

The report states only 60 per cent of GTA and Hamilton workers today have employment that could be considered stable and secure and barely half of those working today are in permanent, full-time positions that provide benefits.

The community forum will feature Professor Lewchuk, Tom Cooper of the Roundtable on Poverty Reduction, Judy Travis from Workforce Planning Hamilton, Deirdre Pike of the Hamilton Social Planning Research Council and Don Wells, director of McMaster’s School of Labour Studies.

The community forum is free and will take place in the Spectator Auditorium at 44 Frid St. Hamilton.

For further information, contact Christopher Cutler at 289-780-6684.