A city initiative to smooth the path of small businesses to open in Hamilton is boasting 940 jobs created last year.

The Small Business Enterprise Centre, located in the lobby of City Hall, brings together staff from several departments to make it easier for new firms to get licences and permits and find space in Hamilton.

“We had a phenomenal year all around,” said centre co-ordinator Kristin Huigenbos. “We’re seeing a lot of alliances and partners investing in small business in Hamilton.”

The Small Business Enterprise Centre is part of Hamilton’s Open for Business Initiative, a 10-year-old drive to make it easier to attract new firms and jobs to the city. It seeks to enhance the city’s reputation as a place in which to invest by reviewing processes such as site plan approvals, parkland requirements of developers and other potential hurdles.

Through the SBEC, potential Hamilton employers can get help accessing provincial, federal and city grants and financial aid.

In 2009, the centre boasted creating 725 jobs in Hamilton from 39,223 inquiries. In 2010, Huigenbos said the centre’s efforts resulted in 692 jobs.

“We saw a dramatic jump last year,” she said. “It shows that small business is big business for Hamilton.”

Although 2012 is only a few days old, Huigenbos added that if the pace of the first week continues, even better results will be posted by the end of the year.

The SBEC success was announced the same day as the latest Labour Force Survey by Statistics Canada showed Hamilton’s unemployment rate ticked down by half a percentage point in December compared to a year ago.

The federal agency reported 26,900 people officially unemployed in Hamilton in December, a number virtually unchanged from November. The number of people employed, however, was up 14,400 from the same month last year.

Part of that change is explained by an increase in the population of the Hamilton-Grimsby-Burlington census metropolitan area — 6,300 people have moved into the area in the last year. At the same time, the potential labour force rose by 13,300.

The increase in employment, however, has done little to help Hamilton’s welfare caseload. Figures from the city website show an Ontario Works caseload of 13,605 in October, up 602 from the same month in 2010.

sarnold@thespec.com

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