Fair hiring climate predicted for Cape Breton

Cape Breton area employers expect a fair hiring climate for the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest ManpowerGroup employment outlook survey.

“Survey data reveals that 17 per cent of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter (January to March), while 17 per cent anticipate cutbacks,” Julianne Ross Brooks of Manpower’s Halifax office said in a news release. “Another 60 per cent of employers plan to maintain their current staffing levels in the upcoming quarter. The remaining six per cent are unsure of their hiring intentions.”

“With seasonal variations removed from the data, Cape Breton’s first quarter net employment outlook of eight per cent is a seven- percentage-point decrease when compared to the previous quarterly outlook,” Ross Brooks said. “It is also a sixpercentage-point decrease from the outlook reported during the same time last year, indicating a mild hiring pace for the upcoming months.”

Canadian job growth slowed during the last quarter of 2018. While the unemployment rate fell to a 40-year low of 5.8 per cent, job growth fell short of expectations in October, noted Darlene Minatel, country manager for ManpowerGroup Canada.

“Employers are having difficulty finding qualified candidates to fill open jobs, which, in turn, is driving up wages but companies are also trying to do more with less to stay competitive,” she said. “Employees are being asked to do more work with less pay and an increasing number of employers are investing in automation to perform labour-intensive functions.”