Hiring confidence in Alberta remains flat: Survey

45 per cent of employers expecting employee levels to stay the same

Hiring confidence in Alberta remains flat for the second half of 2016, according to a survey by the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA).

Forty-five per cent of respondents indicated they expect their organization’s total number of employees in Alberta to remain the same over the next six months.

“However, for the 25 per cent of respondents who indicated that they expect their total number of employees to increase over the same time period, the upside is that a majority of human resources professionals are confident that they can find workers with equivalent experience and qualifications to fill open positions,” said HRIA's interim CEO, Janice MacPherson. 

The percentage of respondents expecting the total number of employees to increase in Alberta is the second lowest in Western Canada, and below the Western Canadian average, found the survey of 839 respondents in Alberta and the Western Canada survey of1,900 respondents.

“Hiring levels clearly are not going to be recovering until 2017 at the earliest,” she said.

Oil and gas organizations saw a slight increase in the index. In contrast, both professional, scientific and technical services, and public administration and government organizations saw a decrease in the index compared to the previous six months, with the public administration and government sector experiencing the greatest decline, said HRIA.

How confident are organizations they can find the right people?

 

Jan. to June 2015

July to Dec. 2015

Jan. to June 2016

July to Dec. 2016

Confident

45%

55%

62%

61%

Neutral

21%

26%

25%

25%

Worried

35%

19%

12%

15%

Number of organizations expecting to hire more employees

 

Jan. to June 2015

July to Dec. 2015

Jan. to June 2016

July to Dec. 2016

Overall

44

29

26

25

Oil and gas

47

24

21

29

Small employers

43

29

30

29

Professional services

47

34

21

20

Public administration

 

23

32

12

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