Job prospects in Cornwall ‘limited’ to end the year: Manpower

CORNWALL, Ont. – It may be touch and go trying to find a job in Cornwall for the rest of the year. Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey released today shows a ‘limited’ hiring climate for the last three months of the year. The net employment outlook for October through December is 2%. That’s down four basis points from the last quarter and down six points from the same period last year. Ten per cent of employers asked planned to hire, 17 per cent plan to make cutbacks while 73% plan to keep the employees they have now.

Manpower spokeman Lisa MacInnis tells Cornwall Newswatch it’s difficult to say whether there are problems in the local job market. But looking to the end of the year she believes it isn’t all bad news. “Looking at last quarter, last quarter (July-September) was quite positive and coming into the fall we are looking at that decrease. But again overall it is fairly positive. A limited hiring climate is expected and some of the areas of growth which are fairly typical in the fall are public administration (government), transportation, public utilities. Some of the key areas where they do expect to see hiring are happening in those areas.” MacInnis also believes financial, insurance and real estate sectors will be the best bets for job seekers looking for a job this year.

MacInnis isn’t ruling out an uptick around Christmas. “Things can change, absolutely. When this (survey) was conducted the three basic questions that were asked at that time were: Do you expect to hire, do you expect cutbacks or to maintain levels? Things can certainly change the mix of those stats we have at this time,” MacInnis said.

Cornwall’s numbers mirror the national trend. The net employment outlook for the nation is 8%, down 2% from the last quarter and down 3% from the same period last year. Twelve per cent of the 1,900 employers asked plan to hire, 7% plan to fire and 79% plan to keep the status quo. MacInnis says Alberta is still the main driver of the economy with energy being the “biggest piece of that puzzle.”