Canadian job seekers worried as employers retain the upper hand

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Canadian workers who once called the shots in a world a record number of job vacancies, now believe the tide has turned and employers have the upper hand in hiring, a new survey shows.

57 percent of job seekers said they will have a hard time finding a job in the next six months, according to a survey published earlier this week by US market research firm Harris Poll for human resources firm Express Employment Professionals. The survey lifted the veil on the job search experience, and the RThe number of hurdles Canadian workers face or must overcome along the way is increasing.

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More job seekers now believe there are fewer opportunities overall – 38 percent, compared to just 31 percent last fall and spring.

A closer look reveals that fewer and fewer job seekers believe there are opportunities in their field: only 20 percent say this, compared to 27 percent in fall 2023 and 33 percent in spring of the same year.

The Canadian labor market has changed on several fronts.

In the Bank of Canada's latest Business Outlook Survey (BOS), employers reported that labour shortages had eased significantly, with job vacancies falling back to pre-pandemic levels from a record high of over one million in May 2022. In the BOS, 40 per cent of companies said they do not plan to hire in the next twelve months.

The unemployment rate, which fell to a COVID reopening low of 4.8 per cent in July 2022, remained stable at 6.4 per cent in July from June. Economists pointed to many signs of stress in the labour market based on Statistics Canada's latest report, including a declining labour force participation rate and a continued decline in the population-to-employment ratio.

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“For those who are unemployed long-term (27 weeks or more), it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a job,” said economist David Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research and Associates Inc. in a note on the July employment report, released Aug. 8.

The lengthy job search was identified as an increasing problem in the survey.

Almost two in five unemployed people (or 38 percent) looking for work said they had been looking for more than two years.

The survey also asked the unemployed how they ended up unemployed. The main reasons included voluntary resignation (18 percent), layoffs (15 percent) and terminations (10 percent). Almost half of those who quit their jobs said they did so because they had to leave their place of work. The remaining quitters cited burnout (21 percent), a desire for better pay (16 percent), better benefits (16 percent) or dislike of the company culture (15 percent).

The survey revealed other concrete signs of changes in the labor market.

While 80 percent of job seekers want a full-time job, nearly half said they would also accept a part-time job (up from 38 percent in spring 2023). Just over a quarter said they would accept a temporary or seasonal job (up from 16 percent in spring 2023). Some even said they would accept jobs below their last salary level (15 percent compared to seven percent in spring 2023).

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Even employees who are looking to change jobs have fears about their jobs.

• 47 percent fear that they will not get the pay rise they deserve;
• 32 percent fear that the economic situation could lead to a decline in job opportunities;
• 27 percent fear that their company may reduce its workforce due to the economic situation;
• 23 percent fear that artificial intelligence/technology will replace their position, up from 12 percent in spring 2023.
• More than half of employed job seekers reported working longer hours and more shifts than usual in the past year, up sharply from 37 percent in fall 2023.

The Job Seeker Report was conducted online in Canada between May 28 and June 10, 2024 among 505 adults aged 18 and over.

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