Hiring surpasses pre-pandemic levels

The national hiring rate in Canada has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to a LinkedIn report.

The rate last month was 124 per cent higher than that recorded in 2020, and 8.7 per cent higher than the data recorded in May 2019.

Hiring levels in most industries has jumped from May 2019 to May 2020:

• health care (123.3 per cent from May 2020 and 28 per cent from May 2019)
• software and IT services (93.4 per cent from May 2020 and 24.7 per cent May 2019)
• nonprofit (109.4 per cent from May 2020 and 19 per cent from May 2019)
• wellness and fitness (87.7 per cent from May 2020 and 18.8 per cent from May 2019)
• education (66.8 per cent from May 2019 and 18.5 per cent from May 2019)
• real estate (256.4 per cent from May 2020 and 16.8 per cent from May 2019)
• media and communications (172.6 per cent from May 2020 and 15.3 per cent from May 2019)
• construction (868.9 per cent from May 2020 and 14.4 per cent from May 2019)
• retail (216.8 per cent from May 2020 and 10.4 per cent from May 2019)
• transportation and logistics (454.2 per cent from May 2020 and 8.5 per cent from May 2019)
• manufacturing (162.3 per cent from May 2020 and 6.4 per cent from May 2019)
• legal (228.3 per cent from May 2020 and 6.2 per cent from May 2019)
• finance (105.7 per cent from May 2020 and 4.1 per cent from May 2019)

More than one in five (21 per cent) of Canadian workers plan to look for a new role in the next several months, according to a separate report. And a “moderate hiring pace” is expected of Canadian employers over the next three months, according to another report.

While there has been significant improvement in hiring in the fields of entertainment (299.8 per cent), energy and mining (156.6 per cent) and relocation and travel (242.6 per cent) from May 2020, the numbers are still down 3.6 per cent, 16.3 per cent and 32.6 per cent, respectively, when compared with 2019.

Job postings in the country are rising past pre-pandemic levels, according to another report.

Vancouver popular for relocation

There are also major movements in the biggest business centres in Canada. The metro areas in and around Vancouver have seen the biggest gains of internal migration since the start of the pandemic, with a 10.5 per cent rise in the inflow-outflow ratio of residents since April 2020.

“Career-wise, Metro Vancouver was recently labelled the top location in the country for young professionals to fulfill their personal and professional ambitions, scoring high in areas such as public transportation, jobs and digital access,” says Gold.

“Its maturing tech sector is meanwhile attracting investment, minting at least five unicorns so far this year. Global tech giants are moving in on the city too, with Amazon recently announcing plans for an expanded Vancouver base, adding 3,000 jobs.”

Meanwhile, certain metro areas have seen more of an exodus during the same period including in and around Montreal (down 21 per cent) in Quebec and Greater Toronto (down 12.2 per cent) and nearby Hamilton (down 18.9 per cent) and London (down 7.8 per cent) in Ontario.

For some employers, salaries for staff who choose to relocate will be determined by the company's office location (68 per cent) and the employee's new location (22 per cent), according to another report.