After a year of furlough and job cuts, a new employment market outlook suggests businesses will be hiring in the fourth quarter
Millions of Canadians started 2020 with no tangible worries about the future of their jobs. For many, things turned sour.
The flurry of job cuts, furloughs, and reduced working hours has hit family finances hard, despite government support programs, with many facing uncertain employment prospects.
However, as most of us return to work after the long weekend, there is some hope that the last quarter of the year will bring increased hiring.
The national ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey finds that there should be a modest rise in hiring in the next three months with employers signalling a net increase in employment of 6%, that’s up 15 points quarter-over-quarter but down 6 points year-over-year.
Ontario leads the sentiment with a net increase of 10%, the same as a year ago and 22 points higher than in the third quarter of 2020.
"While Canadian employer hiring intentions remain modest, there has been a great improvement in the outlook for Q4 when compared to the previous quarter," said Darlene Minatel, Country Manager of ManpowerGroup Canada.
Last week, figures from Statistics Canada showed that employment rose by 246,000 (+1.4%) in August, compared with 419,000 (+2.4%) in July and increases since May have brought employment to within 1.1 million (-5.7%) of its pre-COVID February level.
There was also a decline in the number of Canadians who were working, but for fewer hours than pre-pandemic.
Strongest vs. weakest
The survey of over 1,200 employers across Canada reveals that employers in the Public Administration sector report the highest industry Outlook (+17%) followed by the Transportation & Public Utilities sector (+13%) and the Manufacturing Non-Durables sector (+12%).
But the Mining sector anticipates a subdued Outlook of -4%, the weakest of all sector Outlooks in Canada.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, we are only just starting to see the reality of the shutdown of a large percentage of the economy.
"A real benefit for job seekers is that eight of the ten industry sectors are expecting to add workers in the upcoming quarter with the exceptions being the education and mining sectors,” added Minatel. “With three of the four regions of the country having positive employment outlooks for Q-4, employment prospects for job seekers appear to be on the upswing."
Overall, 12% of employers plan to increase their staffing levels in the fourth quarter of 2020, while 9% anticipate cutbacks, 73% expect their current staffing levels to remain unchanged, and the remaining 6% are unsure of their hiring intentions.
