Canada’s economy added 39,800 jobs last month as an increase in full-time employment pushed the unemployment rate down to its all-time low of 5.1 per cent.
Statistics Canada reported on Friday that more than 135,000 people found full-time employment during the month. This more than offset a 96,000 drop in part-time jobs.
The unemployment rate fell for the third month in a row and was at its lowest point since comparable records began in 1976.
The May hiring increase adds to the expansion the Canadian economy has seen in recent months. After eliminating more than three million jobs in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s labor market has slowly and steadily recovered.
Increased demand for workers
In November 2021, Canada finally had the same number of workers as before the pandemic. When the May numbers are included, it now has half a million more than it had then.
The balance between job offers and workers has shifted almost completely from one imbalance to another in which employers are not finding enough people to work.
“As we begin the ritual of filling yards and heading down the road for the overdue holidays, employers continue to look for workers to meet growing demand,” TD Bank economist James Orlando said of the figures. “This has job vacancy rates at record levels, making it clear that the Canadian economy is operating beyond full employment.”
The service staff is shown at The Canadian Brewhouse’s latest location in Victoria. The national restaurant chain has hired 800 new people in recent months to meet consumer demand for food away from home. (Mike McArthur / CBC)
Statistics Canada says the proportion of unemployed and job vacancies has reached an all-time low of 1.2.
As vice president of human resources for The Canadian Brewhouse, a chain of restaurants with 42 locations across Canada, James Martyn knows firsthand how tight the job market is right now.
Like many hospitality businesses, Brewhouse reduced its operations during the pandemic, but in recent months the chain has begun to grow again, to meet consumer demand for food outside.
Even with competitive salaries and regular increases, Martyn says it’s a challenge to keep and increase the workforce, but he’s glad the chain has managed to hire about 800 new people in the past two months, including a new location in Victoria that it has the largest roof terrace in western Canada.
“A lot of people, even if they keep coming back to work, go to places where they can work from home,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that. But it does challenge business operators, especially if you have a business like hospitality where there’s nothing like working from home.”
This demand for workers is also driving up wages. The data agency says the average hourly wage rose $ 1.18 last year to $ 31.12 an hour. This represents an increase of 3.9%. While it’s an impressive clip by historical standards, it’s still well below the country’s official 6.8 percent inflation rate.
Unprecedented leverage
Workers have an unprecedented influence right now, and many of them are looking for higher-paying jobs and getting them.
Ellen Yifan Chen was a lawyer for a major Montreal firm that recently made the leap to a new job as a general counsel at a technology company based in Quebec City.
She was forced to change by the same factors that drive many people, such as flexibility, new challenges, and the ability to work from home. But ultimately, dollars and cents were a major difference.
Ellen Yifan Chen recently moved to a new job in Quebec City after working in a Montreal-based law firm. (Genevieve Poulin / CBC)
“I was successful in raising my salary as well as a signing bonus,” Chen said in an interview. “I would say it was a big motivating factor for me to finally make the leap.
As a lawyer for a major firm, Chen said she had been told for years that she hoped her compensation would sink if she decided to move elsewhere, but said she had noticed a drastic change in her industry lately. .
“For the past six months, I’ve been hearing offers from the door of recruiters that match or are higher than my previous salary,” he said.
“Many of my friends are also changing jobs. I was watching LinkedIn almost every day and someone [was] changing jobs “.
Higher wages and numerous job options are great news for workers, but less so for central bankers tasked with curbing rampant inflation.
“It’s an unwanted signal for the Bank of Canada, as higher wages drive up consumer demand and therefore inflation,” said Jay Zhao-Murray, an analyst at currency firm Monex.
“A tight labor market where workers have more bargaining power points to even higher wage growth. Without a slight slowdown in wage growth, central banks will continue to worry because the hot labor market is making their job even more difficult. to reduce inflation. “