Employers in Windsor-Essex may be hiring to start 2021, but they may tread carefully in doing so, according to a new survey.
The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, released Tuesday morning, said that employers who responded expect a "subdued" hiring climate in the first quarter of the new year.
"Survey data reveals that 13 per cent of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter, while 13 per cent anticipate cutbacks," said Manpower's Natasha Djukic. " Another 67 per cent of employers plan to maintain their current staffing levels, while the remaining seven per cent of employers are unsure of their hiring intentions in the upcoming quarter."
Djukic added that with seasonal data taken out of the equation, the region's increased outlook of four per cent is still a three per cent drop from the outlook reported at the same time last year.
Darlene Minatel, country manager for ManpowerGroup Canada, said that the modest gains for Windsor-Essex are a good sign, even with the COVID-19 pandemic having wreaked havoc on jobs across the country.
"A moderate hiring outlook for employers in the first quarter of 2021 can be seen as a positive development," said Minatel. "With nine of the ten industry sectors expecting to add workers in the upcoming quarter, there will be opportunities for job seekers. All four regions of the country have positive employment outlooks for the first quarter of 2021 but it’s still challenging for job seekers in Western Canada with a flat employment outlook."
For employers across Canada who responded, 12 per cent said they would increase staff in early 2021, which is stable from the last quarter of 2020. 74 per cent of those surveyed nationwide did not anticipate making changes in staffing volumes.
The survey added that employers in Ontario and Quebec were more likely to keep or add staffing than their counterparts in Atlantic and Western Canada. Both reported a nine per cent net increased outlook.
Complete information on the report is available at the official ManpowerGroup website.
