Nipissing District sees spike in job listings

It's a great time to be looking for work: two employment agencies in the Nipissing District are seeing a large increase in the number of job postings in the region.

In the 25 years of helping people find employment, Yes Employment Services CEO LeeAnne Maille has never seen so many job postings: nearly 300. That’s triple the amount from before the pandemic started.

“They are full time and are across industries," Maille said.

"There’s really no industry left out right now, from labour, construction, manufacturing, to professional positions."

Before the pandemic, Yes Employment Services recorded about 80-90 jobs each month in the spring of 2018 and 2019. Maille attributes these high numbers to hesitancy to rejoin the workforce due to the lockdowns and more movement in the labour market.

“People are taking chances and changing jobs and it’s creating movement and creating openings," she said.

"All those things are working together to contribute to this elevated number of job postings."

The Labour Market Group said it saw more than 700 job postings in March, a 45 per cent increase compared to February.

“This is definitely unprecedented times for job seekers,” said executive director Stacie Fiddler. “We’ve been seeing these trends for several months now.”

Many people retired during the pandemic and the summer means opportunities will continue to expand.

“A lot of folks were close to hovering in that early retirement piece so they decided to take that option,” Fiddler said.

“Retail and hospitality businesses will be looking for additional staff to service those customer needs and summer operators are opening.”

The group says more than 350 unique employers posted jobs in March, which is nearly 63 per cent above the five-year average.