According to Manpower Canada’s most recent Employment Outlook, hiring plans in the second quarter of 2008 cooled sharply compared to second-quarter 2007.

While the percentage of private and public employers who planned to cut staff in the second quarter of this year was unchanged compared to second-quarter 2007, the percentage planning to add staff dropped to 21% from 30% a year earlier. As a result of this drop, the net percentage of firms planning to take on additional staff fell to 10%, the lowest value since fourth-quarter 1998.
Across the country, all four major regions saw a retreat in the net percentage of firms planning to add staff in second-quarter 2008, when compared to plans for second-quarter 2007:

1. Net hiring plans fell by 54% in Western Canada;
2. In Ontario, the figure dropped 50%;
3. Net hiring plans dropped 25% in Québec;
4. In the Atlantic provinces, net hiring plans were down by 17%.

From an industrial perspective, durable goods manufacturing was the only major industry group that did not see a drop in net hiring plans on a year-over-year basis.
As for the other sectors, the declines in net hiring plans were as follows:

• Non-durable goods manufacturing: -65%.
• Transportation and public utilities: -62%.
• Construction: -59%.
• Education services: -58%.
• Mining: -58%.
• Finance, insurance and real estate: -52%.
• Business and personal services: -27%.
• Governments: -27%.
• Retail and wholesale services: -14%.
  

Looking forward, this large, broadly based slowdown in hiring plans on both a regional and an industrial basis suggests that employment growth in Canada will slow in the coming months. This outlook, in turn, points to a slower pace of consumer spending and housing demand at mid year.

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