economy
HIRE EXPECTATIONS FOR CANADIAN BUSINESSES
It is true that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Regardless, surely a scenario wherein many more employers plan to expand their workforces than shrink them it is better than the inverse. Assuming this is true, there was good news reported as part of the Bank of Canada’s Q1 2019 Business Outlook Survey, which indicated that 49% of businesses polled expected to expand their employed workforce in the next year, compared to only 14% that expected to employ fewer people over the coming 12 months.
Overall, this expectation reflects confidence in Canada’s economic prospects, but it does come with a caveat: one year ago (Q1 2018), 54% of businesses expected to grow their workforce, compared to only 9% that thought they would do the opposite. While the current difference in the “positive” business outlook versus the “negative” one of 35% is down from both last year (45%) and the year before (38%), it is higher than each of the preceding two years and on its own shows that despite slowing overall economic growth, business confidence remains elevated.
HIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS: BUSINESSES BULLISH ON GROWTH ›
60%
54%
52%
50%
49%
45%
43%
40%
40%
38%
35%
30%
26%
20%
20%
17%
20%
14%
14%
10%
9%
0%
Q
EXPECTED CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT LEVELS IN COMING YEAR:
HIGHER
LOWER
BALANCE HIGHER MINUS LOWER
SOURCE: BUSINESS OUTLOOK SURVEY, BANK OF CANADA DATA: SHARE OF BUSINESSES POLLED, CANADA
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