Windsor employers appear ready to hire

The future looks bright for job-seekers across the Windsor region, according to a monthly near-term help wanted index released Monday by the Conference Board of Canada.

The survey is based on the seasonally adjusted number of new unduplicated jobs posted across 79 job-posting websites during the previous month.

“It’s good news generally across the country, including the Windsor area,” said Alan Arcand, an economist with the Conference Board. “When there’s an increase in job postings, the natural assumption is that there will be additional jobs to follow.

“It’s not altogether surprising because the job market was really weak during the recession and this is a sign that companies are beginning to feel more confident and willing to hire again,” said Arcand.

It’s generally accepted that there’s a lag between the end of an economic downturn and an increase in employment because many companies operate at less than capacity during the downturn and are cautious about adding staff until they are sure the worst is over.

“Many businesses wait for a pickup in demand before they commit to hiring so when the help-wanted index improves, it’s often a sign that business confidence is growing,” said Arcand.

In the Windsor area, help-wanted prospects in May were slightly higher than they were in May 2007 but lower than in each of May 2008 and May 2009, before the auto industry led the economy into a freefall.

According to the Conference Board, near-term job prospects are upbeat or stable in 19 census metropolitan areas surveyed, including eight in Ontario.

Among Ontario cities, only Oshawa and St. Catharines-Niagara, two centres heaviliy dependent upon manufacturing, are viewed as having weak job-seeking prospects.

Elsewhere, prospects are also considered weak in Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Vancouver and Victoria.

Arcand said the statistics are gathered by Canadian-based Wanted Technologies which passes along the raw numbers on a monthly basis.

“We’re working on collecting the data on a sectoral basis so that we can see where the employment trends are heading,” said Arcand. “But at the moment, it’s just pure numbers.”

Windsor’s unemployment rate was 12.7 per cent in May, according to Statistics Canada.