Employment websites predict hot summer for job seekers

Newspaper help wanted ads are seen in this undated photo.

Looking for work? Two of Canada’s top employment websites have some good news for you.

After impressive job growth numbers, which show Canada’s economy added 95,000 new jobs in May, Workopolis and Monster.ca are both predicting more of the same for June and July.

“Online job postings are usually a predictor of what’s going to happen one month, two months down the road,” said Sheryl Boswell, director of marketing for Monster.ca. She added that between reviewing resumes, meeting candidates and conducting interviews, it usually takes employers about a month or two to hire employees.

It’s the same story at Workopolis: job postings in the month of May were up by as much as 10 per cent, according to Tara Talbot, vice president of human resources for the company.

“Because of this jump in May (job growth could carry) into July,” she said.

Job growth numbers, however, don’t always match up with job posting trends.

While the construction industry had a huge month, adding a whopping 42,700 jobs in May, both employment websites had a lot more listings for retail, sales and IT jobs.

And while Canada lost 14,200 jobs in manufacturing in May, bringing total job losses in the sector to 99,400 since May 2012, Workopolis hasn’t noticed a decline in postings for manufacturing jobs.

“There’s nothing we’d significantly call out,” said Talbot. “They’re not necessarily booming either but they haven’t dropped off.”

All in all, Canadians should feel pretty confident about the state of the job market, said Talbot.

The federal government claims that one million new jobs have been created since the depth of the recession in 2009. Job postings are steadily increasing too.

“It’s hard to tell month-to-month because the numbers obviously vary,” said Talbot of the number of job postings on Workopolis, “(but) we’re clearly, very steadily improving. And it’s just trending upwards.”