Canadian Job Market Update
Over the years, we have relied on a relatively steady set of economic and employment statistics. The markets are one such signal, and for this purpose we have concentrated on the TSX. In March of 2020, when the epidemic returned, the TSX plunged to 11,350. At the time of writing this story, the TSX is currently above 18,930! Clearly, public markets have performed well since recovering from the COVID decline!
The unemployment rate is a clear sign of the state of the labour market, and as we write this, it is at 5.2 percent.
A little more than six months ago, the unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, so we have seen enormous increases and are almost back to pre-pandemic figures, which we are at 5.7 percent, and are not that far from the record low of 5.4 percent recorded in May of this year.
Whenever we give guidance to job seekers, we constantly emphasise the following two points: You only need one job, regardless of how few are available, and your chances improve dramatically if you are willing to relocate. In Canada, the four major provinces account for close to 90 percent of all jobs, with Ontario (almost 40 percent), Quebec (about 23 percent), British Columbia (13.5 percent), and Alberta being the largest (12.5 percent). A province that employs many people and has a reasonably low unemployment rate is therefore an excellent spot to hunt for employment... British Columbia (5.5 percent), Quebec (4.6 percent), Alberta (7.3 percent), and Ontario (6 percent) have traditionally been the best places to look, though Alberta has recently seen significant growth. As the economy recovers, these will once again be the largest employers.
Employers' willingness to permit employees to work from home is another significant change after COVID. This is clear in a number of ways, such as the fact that more U.S. companies are hiring Canadians and paying them in Canadian dollars.
Oil prices are one of the major factors influencing the Alberta market. The price per barrel in Canada now exceeds $65 per barrel. Due to our inability to export oil to markets other than the United States, Canadian per-barrel prices have always been substantially lower than worldwide averages. But $65 is a fair price for Canada's oil patch, where the need for workers has grown dramatically.
Large multinational corporations continue to invest in Canada in order to access a highly educated and talented labour population that is much less expensive than American talent. This, in conjunction with Canada's progressive immigration regulations, has led to the creation of high-paying jobs for Canadians. In addition to this traditional method, there has been an increase in the number of U.S. corporations hiring Canadians to work from home, which is positive for job seekers but may be negative for Canadian employers.
There is a tremendous demand for workers with the necessary abilities and a continuation of robust tech employment. Work-from-home techniques have been facilitated by digital transformation projects, and websites, cyber-security, and payment systems have contributed significantly to the expansion of online purchasing. Our data indicates that the unemployment rate in the technology sector is roughly half that of the overall unemployment rate, but in the era of COVID, we would estimate an even greater disparity. The average unemployment rate of 5.9% includes the significant impact on the hotel, travel, and retail industries, while many tech workers have continued to work from home. We would be surprised if the tech industry's unemployment rate is higher than 2.5%, which is almost full employment.
We focus on technology professionals, and the most in-demand areas/skills include: Cloud, Government, Telecom, Security, Payments, CRM, Digital, Big Data, BI, and AI; Agile BAs, Change Management, Quality Assurance, Architects, Solution Architects, Front & Back end developers, Full Stack developers, Dev Ops engineers; and mainframe is making a comeback!
People with these in-demand technical abilities and expertise should have little trouble getting contract or permanent employment, if not immediately, then very soon! A willingness to migrate to larger urban locations can only enhance marketability.
It remains to be known when things will return to a "more normal" state, but life must go on, and computer professionals are in high demand; many can work remotely, and this demand will only grow.
The following is our advice to employers:
If you find exceptional talent that would be a good fit for your firm, you must act immediately because their availability will not last long. The most in-demand skills categories are already experiencing a return to skills shortages.
Now is an excellent moment to streamline and expedite the hiring procedure! Finding, screening, recruiting, and onboarding can all be accomplished remotely, and our prospects are increasingly receiving several job offers. This leads to clients losing talent due to their inability to make quick decisions, highlighting the significance of the hiring process.
