Red Deer-area employers expect a subdued hiring climate for this year’s second quarter of 2019, according to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey.
“Survey data reveals that 13 per cent of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter, while 13 per cent anticipate cutbacks,” says Randy Upright, CEO of Manpower’s Alberta Region.
“Another 73 per cent of employers plan to maintain their current staffing levels in the upcoming quarter. The remaining one per cent are unsure of their hiring intentions.”
“With seasonal variations removed from the data, Red Deer’s second quarter Net Employment Outlook of five per cent is a 10 percentage point decrease when compared to the previous quarterly Outlook,” said Upright. “It is also a five percentage point decrease from the Outlook reported during the same time last year, indicating a flat hiring pace for the upcoming months.”
Net Employment Outlook is found by subtracting the percentage of employers who do not plan to hire from those who do and then modifying the numbers to remove seasonal variations.
Manpower says that Canadian job growth picked up in the first quarter of this year, a trend that is expected to continue into the following quarter.
“With the private sector ramping up hiring efforts, 66,800 new jobs were created January, and this trend can be expected to continue in the second quarter of the year,” said Darlene Minatel, country manager for ManpowerGroup Canada.
“Ontario and Quebec continue to experience a hiring surge, but many employers are still struggling to find the right candidates for open jobs.”