2014's Top Employment Trends Of Canada From CareerBuilder

22 Feb 2014

For people who are presently unemployed or just searching for a new job in the New Year, there is good news. New data from CareerBuilder features seven trends that every job seeker must pay attention to. It also included the hottest jobs in Canadian business that recruiters plan to hire for, companies offering educational and training opportunities to help fill open positions, increases in existing and starting compensation, etc.

President of North America’s CareerBuilder, Brent Rasmussen said that over the past twelve months, jobs are added by companies in almost every industry, and there is an expectation that the trend is continuing at a substantial pace throughout the New Year -- pointing to the flexibility of the Canadian labor market.

Rasmussen added that 62% of Canadian companies stated that at present they are in a better position financially than the previous year, and 61% of them expect sales to grow in the first half of 2014.

As a result of this business confidence, Rasmussen said that they are expecting to increase hiring in Canada in areas that help sales such as research/development, customer service and information technology.

Seven Trends of jobs in Canada to watch out for in 2014:

1.     STEM occupations are growing continuously: The new discoveries and products, technological innovations that come from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) occupations help sustain the Canadian economy. As a result, STEM occupations are expected to rise with around 38 per cent companies planning to create jobs in Canada these areas in 2014.

2.     Full-time jobs in Canada in 2014: Recruiter plan to hire full-time permanent employees in Canada across many business levels and functions, including:

Customer Service (38%), Information Technology (37%), Research/Development (31%), Sales (30%), Production (29%), Engineering (26 %), Accounting/Finance (26%), Business Development (24%), Administrative (23%), Marketing (19%), Creative/Design (17%)

3.     Companies dependent on contract and temporary hiring: 61% companies plan to hire temporary or contract workers over the next 12 months. Of these employers, 45% plan to shift some temporary workers into full-time, permanent employees in Canada.

4.     Skills gap: Around two in five employers say that currently, they have positions for which they are not able to find qualified workers. 38% said these jobs in Canada go unfilled for three months or more.

5.     Companies making the perfect employee instead of waiting for one: In light of the skills shortage, 55% of employers plan to train workers who don't have experience in their field or industry and hire them in 2014. 36% of employers are helping their present employees in going back to school and get an advanced degree.

6.     Companies looking for hiring in high schools: To build a constant pipeline of job candidates, more companies are connecting with future generations of workers. 36% of recruiters have promoted jobs at their companies to high school students or, in some cases, even younger; in 2014, 31% plan to do so.

7.     Compensation increases in the New Year -- In order to hire and retain the best employees in Canada, companies must offer competitive salaries, especially for positions that are hard-to-fill. For specialized labor, compensation is becoming more competitive, with 33% of employers planning to increase the starting salaries for high-skill jobs in Canada in 2014.

Looking across positions within an organization, 83% of employers plan to raise compensation for existing employees, while 62% will offer higher starting salaries for new employees. Most of the salary raises will be 3% or less.