Spring is coming with great hiring forecasts, reveals the most recent survey on job prospects conducted by the multinational specialized in recruitment ManpowerGroup. Surveyed employers from all industries and regions of the country expect to increase their workforce in the next quarter.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
Nearly half of Canadian employers, or 49%, intend to increase their workforce for the months of April, May and June, while only 13% anticipate reductions. More than a third of employers (36%) expect to keep their current levels of employees, and 2% have not yet made a decision.
Once seasonal variations are removed from the data, the net employment forecast for Canada is over 37%, up 2 percentage points from the previous quarterly forecast.
“From the weak outlook reported in 2020, to the positive trajectory of hiring intentions in 2021 with the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccination, employers are now expressing continued confidence in the economy. There will be favorable circumstances for job seekers across the country and in all sectors,” says Darlene Minatel, Country Director at ManpowerGroup Canada.
Firm size has no impact on hiring intentions. Almost a third of very small businesses with less than 10 employees (27%), as well as SMEs with 10 to 49 employees (38%), those with 50 to 249 (30%) and large organizations (36%) plan to hire new employees.
Different sectors
The survey also reveals that the strongest hiring forecasts are in the primary production sector (56%), followed by IT, technology, telecoms, communications and media (51%), wholesale and retail trade (46%), manufacturing (39%) and banking, finance, insurance and real estate (36%).
By analyzing job prospects by region, we see that the most optimistic come from employers in the Northern Territories with 65%, Atlantic Canada (40%), Ontario (39%) and Western Canada ( 38%). Those of Quebec and the Prairies are at 28%.
It remains to be seen whether Canadian workers will be attracted to these new jobs, whether they will find housing in the regions where these positions are available and whether employers will offer wage increases that take inflation into account.
ManpowerGroup, an American multinational recruitment company, conducts surveys regularly in 40 countries. This, for the Canadian portion, was conducted with more than 1,000 employers across the country. The margin of error is plus or minus 3%.
In the first quarter of 2022, employers surveyed in 40 countries indicated increases in hiring after several difficult months. At the top of the list, Peru forecast a 51% increase, India 49% and the Netherlands 47%. Employers in the United States expected hiring to increase by 41%, Canada by 37%, England by 32% and France by 26%. At the bottom of the list, employers in Japan calculated a meager 11%.