Employer confidence in Canada is returning to pre-pandemic levels, job posting data reveals
TORONTO, March 15, 2021 /CNW/ - For the first time since the pandemic started, employers in Canada are posting more jobs than they did a year ago. Year-over-year job postings entered positive territory last week, according to new data released today by the Eluta.ca job search engine, operated by Mediacorp Canada Inc.
"It's worth pausing to reflect on the significance of this milestone for Canada's economy," says Anthony Meehan, Publisher at Mediacorp. "The pandemic has taken a heavy toll in this country and around the world. But for the first time since the pandemic arrived, we can say to Canadians that there are more jobs available now than a year ago. There has been a catastrophic loss of employment in several sectors – particularly hospitality, personal services and travel – but we now see the signs that employers in the rest of the economy are recovering and confidence is returning."
New job postings by employers in Canada declined sharply a year ago in March and April, when the pandemic caused workplaces to be shuttered and millions of Canadians began working from home to limit the spread of COVID-19:
Since last spring, growth in new job postings in Canada has followed a steady (if bumpy) upward trajectory. On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, the growth in postings entered positive territory for the first time in a year.
"On a regional basis, there have been significant differences in the pace of the recovery across Canada," adds Kristen Chow, Managing Director, Publishing, at Mediacorp. "Employers in British Columbia and Québec have recovered faster than the national rate in terms of the new jobs they've posted – both regions entered positive territory before the rest of the country. The pandemic reduced new job postings in Ontario more than the national average, although the province has nearly closed the gap in the past few months. Despite their early success in mitigating the pandemic's effects, employers in the Atlantic provinces are struggling to maintain last year's level of new job postings. Alberta and the Prairies saw the nation's deepest declines last spring, but even in this region there's cause for optimism when you look at the steady upward progress since then."
The data used in these charts was prepared from daily job posting data tabulated by Eluta.ca, which indexes new job postings across Canada from employer websites. The search engine is unique in that it indexes only jobs posted directly by employers on their own websites; no third-party postings are included, such as those advertised by agencies or job aggregators. Paid job ads are also excluded from these charts to get a better measure of broader employer confidence across most occupational categories, rather than just in fields where labour shortages exist. Now in its 15th year, Eluta.ca is the largest Canadian job search engine specializing in direct-employer postings – the site is used by millions of job seekers annually.
Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach over 15 million Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, one of Canada's largest job search engines, which reaches millions of unique visitors annually and features editorial reviews from the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. The company also publishes The Career Directory, now in its 28th year, a free online guide for recent college and university graduates looking for employers hiring candidates from their educational background.
An interactive chart that helps readers compare the national and regional data sets was released this morning online. The complete data set for each region is available on request to academic researchers and writers.
SOURCE Mediacorp Canada Inc.
Anthony Meehan, Publisher, 416-964-9179, [email protected]
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