Things appear rosy for those seeking new employment opportunities in Waterloo Region over the final quarter of 2019, according to a new survey released by ManPowerGroup.
The company surveyed 1,900 employers in 47 markets across the country to see what their hiring plans were over the next few months and the Kitchener-Cambridge area had one of the best outlooks in the country.
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“With seasonal variations removed from the data, Kitchener/Cambridge’s fourth quarter net employment outlook of 27 per cent is a seven percentage point increase compared to the previous quarterly outlook,” according to Charity Magowan of Manpower’s Kitchener office.
“It is also the same percentage as the outlook reported during the same time last year, indicating a healthy hiring pace for the upcoming months.”
This number places the region sixth nationally and second provincially behind Brampton, which clocked in at 37 per cent.
Magowan says a wide variety of sectors are expecting to increase payroll before the end of 2019.
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“It seems to be across the board where we are seeing a growth trend,” she said. “They say that 23 of the 24 employers expect to see payroll increase in the fourth quarter of 2019.”
That group includes everything from manufacturing to insurance.
“Essentially we’ve got positions that are within the education sector, public administration, as well as manufacturing, real estate and insurance,” Magowan explained. “So respectively, they expect for those as well as transportation and public utilities sectors to be on the growth.
“They have a strong hiring plan for the fourth quarter of 2019.”
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She says another positive number for the region is an increase in the seasonally-adjusted employment index which stood at 12 per cent.
“Where that is up an additional couple of points from our last quarter that we are looking,” Magowan said. “I believe it was at 9 percent.”
Nationally, ManPowerGroup says that employers told them they will be adding bodies in all 10 industry sectors, with the strongest gains coming in the Transportation and Public Utilities and the Public Administration Sectors.
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