Ontario Lagging In Job Growth Expectancy

For students all across Canada, today marked the first day back at school. Returning to the classroom is often an occasion that can be both exciting and depressing at the same time. For many, the challenge of a new school year brings about hope and determination. For others, it simply means more headaches.

There are a lot of Canadians, however, who wish that finding a job was as easy as showing up for the first day of school. Many would love it if today marked their first day at a new job. While the “end” of the recession has been declared by some, numerous citizens who are still seeking employment continue to beg to differ.

According to Business Reporter, Rita Trichur in today's edition of The Toronto Star, it will still be some time before most of this nation's unemployed are back on the job. At least, that seems to be the case for Ontarians who are out of work. Trichur reports that the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey finds that, “the outlook for Ontario's hard-hit labour market remains relatively dim.”

Even though the survey did determine that Canadian employers are “cautiously optimistic” about their hiring prospects in the fourth quarter of 2009, Ontario seems to be continuing its trend of declining hiring intentions among employers. With only a 2 per cent net employment outlook, Ontario ranks the lowest among all provinces in Canada.

Trichur also divulges some startling statistics: “Overall, employment in Ontario has declined by 207,000 since the labour market peaked last October. The province's unemployment rate exceeded the national average of 8.7 per cent in August.”

Trichur does note, however, that the sectors shown to have the greatest intentions of hiring in Ontario include the wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate and education.

Manpower's survey, she reports, also found that the best places in Ontario to get a job this fall include Cornwall, Barrie, Kingston, Thunder Bay and Kitchener/Cambridge while the areas that are most likely to produce more job cuts include Mississauga, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Brantford.

As far as Toronto goes, the survey concluded that the city is bracing for a “conservative hiring climate” with a fourth quarter net employment outlook of 1 per cent.

As previously mentioned, Synergy Merchant Services is one of those few Toronto-based companies that is still presently offering employment opportunities. Perhaps, the next survey conducted by Manpower then, will showcase Ontario's job growth potential in a more optimistic light.