Number of job ads way up compared to 2020, 2019
Summertime is fast approaching and this year it’s looking more promising than we’ve seen in a couple of years.
Job postings for summer jobs have soared as of mid-May, more than doubling where they did at the same time last year, according to job board Indeed.
The postings are also up 87 per cent from 2019.
While part of this increase reflects a broader boom in Canadian job postings, the share of postings including “summer” in their title is also higher than it was at this time in 2019, suggesting the surge has even outpaced the economy-wide trend, says Brendon Bernard, senior economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab.
Customer service comes out on top as the most popular type of job with “summer” in the title (12.9 per cent), followed by camp counsellor (9.3 per cent), painter (3.1 per cent), labourer (2.5 per cent) and student assistant (1.9 per cent). Also in the top 10 are camp leader (1.8 per cent), maintenance person (1.3 per cent), summer associate (one per cent), warehouse worker (0.8 per cent) and support worker (0.7 per cent).
Following a similar announcement by Canada’s Wonderland, Wet’n’Wild Toronto said it is looking to hire 500 people for the summer season.
Labour shortages
However, filling these jobs could be even tougher this year because Canadian job seekers aren’t being as proactive in looking for summer jobs as they were pre-pandemic, finds Indeed.
As of mid-May, 0.95 per cent of Canadian job searches (meaning 9.5 per 1,000 searches) included summer-related phrases — down slightly from the same point last year, and down 1.23 per cent compared to 2019.
“The dip in summer-related job seeker interest likely relates to a broad increase in share of searches for remote work opportunities since the start of the pandemic,” says Bernard.
“Youth who are out of school for the summer months might also be looking for different temporary positions than they have in the past. For instance, the share of searches including the terms ‘intern’ or ‘internship’ was up in early May compared to 2019, which could be a sign that young job seekers are increasingly looking for more career-track opportunities in the summer months.”
As a result, pressure will be on businesses to make their job openings as attractive as possible to prospective candidates, whether in terms of wages or signing bonuses, or stability and flexibility around working hours, he says.
“For those unable to fill job vacancies, some might have to make do with leaner staffing, or scale back operations.”
With many restaurants facing major staffing challenges, McDonald’s Canada is looking to hire 25,000 workers in the country over the next three months.
Lowe’s Canada also announced it’s looking to hire 5,000 new employees.
