Hello!

The last employment report was clearly a disappointment, and there might not be much good news to come, as hiring intentions for Canadian companies at least in the next quarter appear somewhat mixed.

The latest ManpowerGroup poll shows that Canada’s “net employment outlook” for the third quarter increased 8 percent, unchanged from the second quarter.

The net employment outlook figure is obtained by taking the percentage of employers expecting an increase in hiring at their establishment and deducting the percentage of employers planning to downsize.

While the outlook for the third quarter marks an increase of 18 percentage points from the same period last year, the recruiting group notes that the third quarter of 2020 was the weakest quarter for employment prospects since the start of the survey in 1978.

The big numbers are promising, however: Canadian employers in all key regions of the country and in the 10 industrial sectors surveyed by Manpower expect to increase their payrolls next quarter.

However, the sky is not always clear.

Just over a quarter (26 percent) of employers surveyed don’t expect to return to pre-pandemic hiring levels, while 38 percent just don’t know when they will hire more staff.

Eleven percent plan to hire at or above the same level as before the pre-COVID-19 period over the next three months, 8 percent within 6 months, 3 percent within 9 months, 5 percent within by January 2022, 6 percent likely by the end of 2022 and 3% later than 2022.

Public administration employers were the most optimistic, with seasonally adjusted net employment prospects of +18 percent, followed by durable goods manufacturing (+15 percent) and non-durable manufacturing (+13 percent). Construction companies (up 3%), wholesale and retail traders (+ 4%) and education providers (+ 5%) were less enthusiastic.

Canadian employers also want their workforce to return to the office soon. Up to 70 percent of employers surveyed say 76 to 100 percent of their staff have roles that require them to be in the workplace all or most of the time.

When asked where they expected the majority of their employees to work in the next 6 to 12 months, 79 percent of employers identified the workplace, although many companies are looking to introduce options. flexible working and have a favorable view of remote work.

“Widespread immunization and pandemic resolution may well contribute to an increase in the number of employers planning to return to work in the workplace for the third quarter of 2021,” said Darlene Minatel, national director of ManpowerGroup Canada, in A press release.

Overall, the net employment outlook for Canadian employers of 8 percent ranks them 24th out of 43 countries in terms of optimism about hiring in the third quarter, according to the Manpower Global Survey. US employers are the most optimistic (+25 percent) about hiring new staff in the third quarter, followed by Taiwanese (+24 percent) and Australian (+17 percent) companies.