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Slow hiring trends projected to continue in Calgary

Downtown Calgary, Bridgeland, LRT
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CALGARY -

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is meant to bring an economic turnaround in Calgary and while the vaccines may be here, the turnaround may be a bit slower to arrive.

A survey done by the staffing and recruiting agency, Manpower, suggests that while many companies in Calgary plan to hire in the upcoming quarter, there are a number of others planning cutbacks.

"Survey data reveals that 10 per cent of Calgary employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter, while five per cent anticipate cutbacks," said Randy Upright, CEO of ManpowerGroup’s Alberta region.

That would put the city on par with last quarter.

"With seasonal variations removed from the data, Calgary’s third quarter net employment outlook of plus-five per cent remains the same as it was for the previous quarterly outlook, and a 27-percentage point increase from the outlook reported during the same time last year," said Upright.

The survey also noted about 74 per cent of employers intend on maintaining similar staffing levels, while another 11 per cent are unsure of their intentions.

While the news may not be as good as job seekers were hoping for, Manpower says there is optimism for further job market growth.

“Widespread vaccination and settling of the pandemic may well be contributing to an increase in employers planning to return to workplace-based working for the third quarter of 2021,” said  Darlene Minatel, a manager with ManpowerGroup Canada.

“With all 10 industry sectors expecting to hire in the upcoming quarter, and hiring intentions steady across all four regions, there will continue to be opportunities for job seekers.”

While it may not feel like there has been any significant bounce back in the job market since the pandemic began, Minatel notes the job market has in fact rebounded to some degree.

“Looking back to the third quarter of 2020, the weakest quarter for employment outlook since the survey began in 1978, the Employment Outlook has increased significantly in just one year," she said.

"A national outlook of plus-eight per cent for Q3 2021 puts us exactly on par with pre-pandemic outlooks.” 

Nationally, the job market has rebounded somewhat faster than it has in Calgary. ManpowerGroup is reporting a eight per cent net gain in the job market across the country. This marks an 18 percentage point increase from Q3 in 2020.

Quebec continues to see the highest net gain of any region in the country with a 19 per cent increase for Q3 2021.

According to ManpowerGroup the sectors with the largest job growth this quarter are public administration, manufacturing and transportation and public utilities.

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