Coquitlam employers are among the most likely to hire new workers in Western Canada.
That’s according to a new employment forecast from ManpowerGroup, which surveyed 1,287 employers across the country on their plans to hire in the first quarter of 2021.
Employers were asked: “How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the three months to the end of March 2021 as compared to the current quarter?”
According to the results, 10% of Coquitlam and Burnaby employers plan to hire new staff between January and March. That’s up from the 8% seasonally adjusted growth predicted for the last three months of 2020.
Across Western Canada, only Surrey and Richmond-Delta reported more optimism in their prospects of hiring new workers, with 14% and 12% of employers expecting to hire over the same period, respectively. However, that’s down from earlier predictions for the current quarter, in which 35% of Surrey employers and 14% Richmond employers said they would hire more people.
The biggest prospects for job growth across all jurisdictions of Western Canada are forecast to occur in public administration, as well as transportation and public utilities, though employers in both sectors are less confident in job growth than they were in the lead up to this quarter.
Finance, insurance and real estate, meanwhile, are expected to remain at 0% growth, but dip to a collective minus 12% when adjusted for the season.
Similarly, employers predict job opportunities in the service sector will fall 4% over the first three months of 2021.
As the pandemic continues to hit bottom lines, employers’ long-term outlook is mixed: across Canada, 41% expect to return to pre-COVID-19 hiring levels within the next 12 months. A grim 26% never expect a return to pre-pandemic hiring levels.
The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.7%.
