Ontario’s job market charted a very uneven recovery over the course of 2021, with employment in low-wage industries remaining woefully below prepandemic levels, while the number of people employed in higher-wage white collar jobs soared to levels not seen before in years.
A new report from the province’s Financial Accountability Office paints a detailed picture of how polarized the province’s job market became in 2021. Employment in the accommodation and food services industry, in particular, were furthest from prepandemic levels, while sectors like tech, insurance, real estate and finance were not only barely impacted by the pandemic, but recorded significant job growth.
“The impact of the pandemic can be seen most in industries with close customer contact and those jobs have not come back. Any time there was a lockdown those were the first industries to be shut down and the last to open up,” said Peter Weltman, Ontario’s financial accountability officer.
The accommodation and food services sector lost roughly 110,000 jobs in 2020, but only gained back 18,100 jobs in 2021 – employment levels remained 20.6 per cent below what they were in 2019.
Other sectors that were significantly affected by the pandemic, and had still not recovered to their prepandemic state were retail, and transportation and warehousing. The number of people employed in retail jobs was 1.4 per cent below their prepandemic level, while transportation and warehousing employment levels were 5.8 per cent below what they were in 2019.
“Despite record job vacancies, accommodation and food services had the slowest employment growth since 2019,” the report stated, adding that this could partly reflect workers switching to other industries amid health concerns and repeated pandemic-related restrictions.
By contrast, jobs in the services-producing sector grew by 5.2 per cent, according to the report, with the annual employment level remaining just 0.2 per cent below 2019 levels.
Much of the job growth in the service sector was driven by jobs that could be done remotely. The number of people employed in professional, scientific and technical services soared by 14 per cent (or 93,600 jobs) between February, 2020, and December, 2021, while the finance, insurance and real estate sectors saw job growth of 6.3 per cent (or 38,200 jobs) in that same time frame.
“Since 2019, employment gains have been concentrated in positions that usually require a university education, while losses were observed in occupations that usually require less education,” said Mr. Weltman.
Data from the report showed that since 2019, there was an 8.3 per cent gain in employment (equivalent to 196,900 jobs) amongst those with a university education, while those who had completed high school or occupational training certifications saw a 7.5 per cent decline in employment levels. “This discrepancy could suggest that some employers may be open to hiring someone without a university degree, but may substitute that with on-the-job training,” observed Mr. Weltman.
The report also showed that recent immigrants between ages 25 and 54 seemed to find jobs easily, compared to those born in Canada. Employment levels amongst recent immigrants rose by 8.3 per cent in 2021 – that number was just 1.9 per cent in 2019. Employment grew by just 1.8 per cent amongst those born in Canada in that same age group.
Another interesting data point in the report showed that the unemployment rate amongst visible minorities declined from 17.4 per cent to 7.4 per cent between July, 2020, and December, 2021. Over that same period, the unemployment rate amongst those who did not identify as Indigenous or visible minority declined from 9.5 per cent to 4 per cent.
Article From: Globe and Mail
Author: VANMALA SUBRAMANIAM
