Grocery stores and household delivery services have become key pillars of the economy amid the COVID-19 crisis. Canadian job seekers have taken notice. As companies like Walmart and Amazon announced major hiring plans, job searches for both on Indeed Canada surged, along with those for large grocers including Costco and Loblaws.* 

Searches containing “Amazon” spiked first, jumping up as a share of total Canadian job searches to 303% above its February average on March 17th. Queries including ‘Walmart’ surged most, reaching 374% above its average February share on March 21st. While not quite as dramatic, searches for the names of several large grocery stores also increased, peaking on March 23rd at 173% above their February share of Canadian job searches.

Line graph shows Canadian job searches for Walmart, Amazon, and large grocers jumped as other sectors shut down.
Line graph titled “Canadian job searches for Walmart, Amazon, and large grocers jumped as other sectors shut down.” Graph shows the indexed share of Indeed Canada job searches through March 31, with a line for Walmart, Amazon, and Large Grocers (Feb. 2020 = 100). In the beginning of March, all three lines saw huge increases, with Amazon spiking up over 303% and Walmart spiking up over 374%. Large grocers were not as dramatic, but did spike up 173%. The searches have slowed down but still remain high as of March 31. Caption added post-publication.

While job seeker interest directed towards these companies has eased following an initial rush, they continue to garner an elevated share of Canadian job searches. With social distancing likely to remain in force for some time, large delivery service and grocery store companies could remain popular targets among Canadians looking for work for an extended period.

*Included in our list of large grocery store chains searched for by Canadian job seekers: Loblaws, Costco, Metro, Safeway, Save On Foods, Sobeys, Whole Foods, Farm Boy, Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, Rexall, Longos, and IGA.