Despite cautious optimism expressed by firms polled in the Bank of Canada’s latest business outlook survey, companies are not expecting hiring to pick up in the next year.
“Intentions to increase employment are positive but less widespread in the summer survey following higher readings in the winter and spring surveys,” the Bank of Canada said in its analysis of the July 7 survey results.
When it comes to the workforce, just 43% of companies intended to increase their levels of employment in the next year.
That's down 10% compared with the previous survey, released in April, which revealed 53% of companies expected their employment levels to increase within a year.
The latest survey also showed 15% of companies expect to decrease their levels of employment in the next year compared with the 8% of companies that reported plans to cut its workforce in the spring survey.
“Those citing labour shortages were typically located in Western Canada and, as in recent surveys, did so mostly in relation to hiring for a specific position, skill set or region,” the Bank of Canada said in the report.
“Overall, firms have not seen any change in the intensity of labour shortages from 12 months ago.”
