Holiday vacancies are increasing, but competition remains fierce – MoneySense

“After two down years, we have seen seasonal workforce demand actually become slightly stronger than last year,” said Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed Canada, who also authored the report.

Bernard said demand for seasonal workers generally mimics the broader state of the economy. The past two holidays were overshadowed by high interest rates and inflation, dampening companies’ willingness to hire while households reined in their spending. This year, however, consumer spending appears to be stabilizing as many retailers report “a pretty solid year,” Bernard said.

Sandra Lavoy, metro market director at Robert Half, agrees that the holiday job market is looking a little healthier this year. Lavoy said this comes after several sectors – such as services and retail – have been running their businesses with streamlined staffing. But now that the holidays are approaching, it is more difficult to maintain that level. “If you look at seasonal work, it’s about two months, maybe three months,” she said. “You have no choice, because turnover is growing significantly.”

There is a lot of demand for temporary holiday work

But finding a summer job is not as easy as it was a few years ago. The report shows that more Canadians are looking for work. Statistics Canada’s October labor market report shows the unemployment rate remains high at 6.9%, despite a few months of surprising job growth.

Indeed Canada tracks holiday-related job postings on its website and analyzes the listings for mentions of words such as Christmas, Christmas, Santa Claus, holiday and other related terms. It also tracks job seekers’ searches for these terms. The report says the share of job seekers’ searches on Indeed containing seasonal job-related terms has increased. As of early November, about three in 1,000 Canadian job postings contained a holiday-related term, slightly higher than a year earlier, and significantly higher than November 2023 and 2022, 2.5 and 2.2, respectively.

“Greater interest in seasonal work is not a good sign for the health of the labor market as a whole,” the report said, adding that it could indicate that some are considering seasonal work to make ends meet. That has likely made it more difficult to find temporary employment compared to previous years, Bernard said. “That could mean that people, who in other times would prefer a more stable, permanent job, have to look for temporary work temporarily,” he said.

Seasonal recruitment occurs more slowly than in the summer months

The weak labor market created a competitive environment for seasonal summer jobs, but Bernard said it’s difficult to gauge whether the holiday season will be as intense. While there are some similarities in economic conditions, labor demands and types of hiring during the summer season are very different, Bernard said. “There’s a lot more hiring in the summer than around the holidays just because there’s so much more work done during the summer months,” he said.

Unlike this winter season, where job postings are slightly higher, Indeed Canada’s summer hiring report shows that summer job postings fell 22% year-over-year in May. “We have seen a slight change in direction (this winter), which is good to see, even if it is not going to be a vibrant market,” Bernard said.

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