Labour Market Insights
Navigating Ontario’s COVID-19 Restrictions and its Impact on Job Search and Demand for September 2020
This past month saw quite a few changes in Ontario’s Reopening plan. We’re looking at how Windsor-Essex has adapted to these ongoing changes, such as restrictions in the hospitality industry and schools reopening, as we move forward together.
While the Windsor-Essex region did move to stage 3 on August 12, as of September 8 the province paused further loosening of public health measures and reopening of businesses.
Further restrictions came into play on September 19, which included limiting close contact to only those in your household and limiting the number of people at social gatherings and unstaffed events. On September 26, additional restrictions for restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and strip clubs were put into place.
Child care and early years programs reopened in the province on September 1, with enhanced safety measures. Schools also reopened in September, although in-person attendance for elementary and secondary students is optional for the 2020-2021 school year.
The Job Board received 22,783 interactions in September (an increase of 7.7% from 21,163 in August) from 6,056 users (down 5.1% from August). Although users were down, interactions were up, suggesting that individuals looking for work are looking more aggressively, perhaps due to schools and childcare facilities opening up and allowing some individuals that opportunity.
Of the 4,225 women using the Job Board in the month of September, 152 looked for jobs by Job Types (Part Time, Full Time, or All Job Types). A total of 51% were looking at Part Time work, 41.2% were looking at Full Time work, and 7.2% were looking at All Job Types.
Of the 3,514 men using the Job Board in the month of September, 145 looked for jobs by Job Types, with 38.6% looking at Part Time work, 55.9% looking at Full Time work, and 5.5% looking at All Job Types.
This may be due to schools reopening, allowing for more people to look for a job if they chose to send their child(ren) to in-person classes, however, Part Time work would give women, typically the primary caregiver in the household, more flexibility should uncertainties with school closings arise.
The top occupations women were looking at on the Job Board were:
Administrative Assistants; Retail Salepersons; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; General Office Support Workers; and Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities.
The top occupations men were looking at on the Job Board were:
Material Handles; Retail Salespersons; Delivery and Courier Service Drivers; Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities; and Construction Trades Helpers and Labourers.
The most searched-for occupations overall were:
Retail Salespersons; Administrative Assistants; Material Handlers; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; and Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities.
The top ten in-demand occupations by local employers for September 2020 were:
Retail Salespesons; Transport Truck Drivers; Home Support Workers, Housekeepers and Related Occupations; Delivery and Courier Service Drivers; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Material Handlers; Cooks; Nursery and Greenhouse Workers; Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers; Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities.
There seems to be an increase in demand in the Local Messengers and Local Delivery sector, which did not make the top ten hiring sectors in August, but is #6 in September. This could be due to people seeing the number of COVID cases rise across the province and opting for more delivery options from restaurants and retailers as well as more restaurants (Full-Service Restaurant and Limited-Services Eating Places posted a similar number of jobs this month as last month) accommodating additional delivery demand.
For more information on additional public health measures and restrictions during stage 3, please click here.
THE FINDINGS OF THIS REPORT WERE SOURCED FROM:
MONTHLY JOB DEMAND REPORT
ABOUT THIS REPORT:
As of April 2019, the monthly Job Demand Report for Windsor-Essex is created by Workforce WindsorEssex using data collected from 14 unique national, provincial and locally-significant job boards. Between May 2017 and March 2019, job posting data was purchased from CEB Talent Neuron.
MONTHLY JOB SEARCH REPORT
The monthly Job Search Report for Windsor-Essex is created by Workforce WindsorEssex using data collected from four job finding tools, including WEexplore, WEmap jobs, WEjobs board, and the Bridge Timeline Tool. Gender and age information of users is voluntarily shared with the organization.
Questions? Please contact: info@workforcewindsoressex.com.
