Key points 

  • Total Canadian job postings on Indeed were up 47% on September 24, compared to early February 2020, supported by a solid rate of new postings being added.  
  • Several sectors like software development, construction, and human resources, showed rapid job posting growth over the summer, despite already being well above pre-pandemic levels as of the start of July. 
  • Mentions of vaccine requirements in job postings continue to surge, and are now found in 1.1% of all English-language Canadian job postings on Indeed.

As of September 24, total Canadian job postings on Indeed were up 47% from their February 1, 2020 levels, after adjusting for seasonal trends. Posting growth has eased somewhat in recent weeks, but is still up 15 percentage points since the start of July. 

Line graph titled “Canadian job postings well above pre-pandemic levels.”
Line graph titled “Canadian job postings well above pre-pandemic levels.” With a vertical axis ranging from -60% to 60%, Indeed tracked the percent change in total Canada job postings between February 1, 2020 and September 24, 2021. As of September 24, total job postings on Indeed in Canada were up 47% from their February 1, 2020 levels.

Helping keep the overall level of Canadian job postings elevated has been the continued solid rate that new job postings are being added to Indeed (see methodology). While the pace can be volatile week-to-week, since the start of July, the number of job postings seven days old or less on Indeed has been on average 38% above where it stood on February 1, 2020, after adjusting for seasonal trends. This strong pace suggests job opportunities will remain plentiful entering the fourth quarter of the year, hopefully providing an auspicious environment for job seekers looking for new opportunities.

Line graph titled “New job postings being added at a rapid pace.”
Line graph titled “New job postings being added at a rapid pace.” With a vertical axis ranging from -80% to 60%, Indeed tracked the percent change in new Canada job postings between February 1, 2020 and September 24, 2021. As of September 24, new job postings were up 42% from the start of February 2020. 

Job postings strong across a wide range of sectors

While the scope of the overall rebound has been impressive, job postings in some sectors even dwarf economy-wide growth. Postings in areas like loading and stocking, software development, human resources, and construction, all stand over 75% above their pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, despite already starting the summer well above their pre-pandemic levels, the postings in the latter three all also rose by 20 percentage points or more since early July. Meanwhile, postings have also grown at a solid rate, similar to the economy-wide trend in a range of sectors including retail, driving, and accounting.

Table titled “Job postings are well above pre-pandemic levels in almost all sectors.”
Table titled “Job postings are well above pre-pandemic levels in almost all sectors.” Indeed compared the percent change in total Canada job postings between February 1, 2020 and September 24, 2021, across various sectors divided into sections “Stronger than average,” “Similar to average.” and “Weaker than average.” Postings in some sectors are now well above where they were in early 2020, including software development, loading and stocking, human resources, and cleaning and sanitation. 

By contrast, hiring appetite lags the broader economy in a few pandemic exposed sectors, though reopening has still helped send postings in sports, beauty and wellness, and hospitality and tourism above their pre-pandemic levels. One exception to the recovery remains aviation, where postings have picked up, but still have a ways to go for a full rebound.

Vaccine requirements soar 

Beneath the trend overall job postings, mentions of vaccine requirements in job descriptions are rising quickly.  As of September 24th, 1.1% of Canadian English-language job postings included some mention of vaccine-related requirements in the job description. That share was nearly double where it stood two weeks prior, and up over tenfold from its share at the start of July.

Line graph titled “Vaccine requirement mentions climbing quickly.”
Line graph titled “Vaccine requirement mentions climbing quickly.” With a vertical axis from 0% to 1.2%, Indeed tracked the share of English-language Canadian job postings that mention vaccine requirements on a horizontal axis ranging from March 1, 2021 to September 24, 2021. As of September 24, 1.1% of job postings mentioned vaccine requirements, up from 0.06% on July 1. 

Vaccine requirements are mentioned at relatively high rates in job postings in various areas of healthcare, education, and social assistance. On the flip-side, mentions are rarer in certain areas of tech, retail, and driving, though these sectors have also seen increases in recent weeks. Overall, while mentions of vaccine requirements aren’t especially common yet, their growing presence shows no signs of slowing down. 

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

Jobs postings mentioning vaccine requirements include English language postings that feature one of an extensive list of terms such as “vaccine required”, “requires vaccination,” “must have COVID vaccine,” in their job description. To compare requirements across different areas of the economy, we focused on sectors with more than 5,000 active English language job postings on September 24, 2021. 

All non-vaccine related figures in this blog post are the percentage change in seasonally-adjusted job postings since February 1, 2020, using a seven-day trailing average. February 1, 2020, is our pre-pandemic baseline. We seasonally adjust each series based on historical patterns in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Each series, including the national trend, occupational sectors, and sub-national geographies, is seasonally adjusted separately. This week we applied our quarterly revision, which updates seasonal factors and fixes data anomalies. Historical numbers have been revised and may differ from originally reported values.

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.