This post is updated as of October 5, reflecting data through October 2. We will be regularly updating this data as we track how COVID-19 impacts the global labour market. 

Key points:

  • As of October 2, total job postings on Indeed Canada stood 16% below last year’s trend, solid improvement from the week prior. 
  • New job postings matched last year’s trend for a second straight week.  
  • The arrival of fall and an upswing in new COVID-19 cases has yet to slow the ongoing rebound in overall job postings.
  • However, momentum has been noticeably weaker in pandemic-exposed sectors like food preparation and service than the rest of the economy.

Total job postings on Indeed Canada rose compared to last year’s trend, as of Friday, October 2, standing 16% below 2019 levels, up from -19% the week prior. It was the strongest week of progress since late July, reflecting both improvement in this year’s numbers as well as an easing of last year’s trend. Last week’s gain capped off a strong September, which saw the posting gap shrink 6 percentage points from early in the month.

Line graph showing recovery for Canadian job postings continues recovery.
Line graph titled “Canadian job postings continue to recover.” With a vertical axis of -60% to 10%, the graph shows Indeed Canada total job postings, 2020 vs 2019 % gap in trend through Oct. 02 (Indexed to Feb-01, 7-day avg.) The gap was at 0% on February 21, and started dropping in March. By the end of April and into May, the gap was -49%. The gap started to recover in May, reaching -16% by Oct. 02. Caption added post-publication.

New postings continue to show strength

Helping drive the trend in total postings was strength in new postings, which continued to run at last year’s trend for a second consecutive week. This pace remains more than sufficient to move the total postings gap, and by extension, the amount of opportunities available to Canadian job seekers, in the right direction. However, the arrival of fall and an upswing in new COVID-19 cases leave us waiting to see if recent momentum can be maintained. 

Line graph showing the new job posting trend getting back to normal since pandemic.
Line graph titled “New job postings trend back to normal.” With a vertical axis of -75% to 15%, the graph shows Indeed Canada new job postings, 2020 vs 2019 % gap in trend through Oct. 2 (Indexed to Feb-01, 7-day avg.) The gap was roughly 5% on February 21 and started dropping in March. By mid-April, the gap was -70%. The gap started to rise at the end of April, reaching 0% by Oct. 2. Caption added post-publication.

Gaps closing across the country

While recent increases in COVID-19 cases have been most notable in Quebec and Ontario, these surges have yet to dent their job posting recoveries. Gains compared to last year were seen across the country between September 11th and October 2nd, with Canada’s largest two provinces no exception. P.E.I. saw its posting gap sharply turn sharply, reflecting a drop-off in its 2019 trend. Saskatchewan also stands out with postings fairly close to normal. 

Table showing job posting trends in Canadian provinces.
Table titled “All provinces made some progress over the past month.” The table compares the Indeed Canada total job postings: 2020 vs 2019 % gap in trend through Oct. 2 (7-day avg.) and the ppt. chg since Sept. 11, between 10 provinces. Canada total’s % gap in trend is -16% and +4% ppt. chg. The largest positive gap is P.E.I. with +24% and a -24% ppt. chg. The largest negative gap is Quebec with -20% and a +3% ppt. chg. Caption added post-publication.

Momentum weaker in pandemic-exposed sectors 

Most sectors have seen job postings improve compared to last year in recent weeks. Among the exceptions though, are areas of the economy especially hard-hit by the pandemic, that were already lagging the broader recovery. Since mid-September, the gap in postings compared to last year’s trend was flat in food preparation and service, while it widened in sports (which includes fitness instructors), as well as hospitality and tourism. Aviation, the sector furthest from last year’s trend, also deteriorated. 

Table showing pandemic-exposed sectors lagging posting recoveries elsewhere.
Table titled “Pandemic-exposed sectors lagging posting recoveries elsewhere.” The table shows the 2020 vs 2019 % gap in trend through Oct. 2 (7-day avg), comparing sectors with a smaller gap than average, a gap similar to economy average, and a wider gap than average. The sectors with a wider gap than average- the pandemic-exposed sectors- were Food Preparation & Service (-35%), Sports (-39%), Hospitality & Tourism (-39%), and Aviation (-66%). Caption added post-publication.

At the same time, these pockets of weakness aren’t the norm. In fact, progress in September has brought postings back to near last year’s trend across an increasing number of sectors. Nursing, as well as loading and stocking, closed their posting gaps a few weeks ago, and they’re starting to be joined by others, like customer service, and production and manufacturing, which are also getting back to normal. 

Lastly a range of sectors are following the economy-wide trend, showing improvement since mid-September, though postings still have a way to go to reach last year’s trend. Included in this group are installation and maintenance, administrative assistance, retail, and banking and finance.

The public health situation and its economic spillovers continue to change on a daily basis. We’ll be regularly updating this data as conditions evolve.

Methodology

To measure the trends in job postings, we calculated the 7-day moving average of the number of job postings on Indeed Canada. We index each day’s 7-day moving average to the start of February (Feb 1, 2020 = 100 for 2020 data, and so on).

We report how the trend in job postings this year differs from last year, in order to focus on the recent changes in labor market conditions due to COVID-19. For example: if job postings increased 30% from February 1, 2019, to April 10, 2019, but only 20% from February 1, 2020, to April 10, 2020, then the index would have risen from 100 to 130 in 2019 and 100 to 120 in 2020. The year-to-date trend in job postings would therefore be down 7.7% on April 10 (120 is 7.7% below 130) in 2020 relative to 2019.

For new postings, we calculate a similar metric but the underlying measure is the number of postings that have been on Indeed for seven days or less.

The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.