The Quebec labor market has almost fully recovered from the damage caused by the first waves of the pandemic, but emerges transformed, according to the 2021 Employment Report in Quebec unveiled Thursday by the Institut du Québec (IDQ).
The IDQ estimates that the job market has rebounded “rapidly”, such that Quebec had 34,100 more jobs in December 2021 than in December 2019.
Between December 2020 and December 2021, 156,000 more workers returned to work while the number of unemployed fell (-94,900).
“The employment rate and participation rate have returned to their pre-pandemic levels mainly thanks to workers from the main labor pool, the 25-54 year olds, who are more active than ever in the labor market. However, workers aged 55 and over, especially women, have not returned to their 2019 activity rates,” the report reads.
“We are therefore starting the year 2022 with one of the lowest unemployment rates and a record number of jobs to be filled in the economy,” said Mia Homsy, president and CEO of the IDQ.
No “Great Resignation”
While in the United States, millions of workers have voluntarily left their jobs since the start of the health crisis, the situation has been different in Canada and Quebec, according to the IDQ.
The data indicates that Quebecers aged 25 to 54 even show higher activity rates than those observed in 2019.
Furthermore, the movement of workers between sectors is one of the phenomena that has transformed the labor market during the pandemic. Many Quebecers would thus have abandoned the sectors hardest hit by health restrictions, such as accommodation, restaurants and wholesale and retail trade, in favor of growing sectors such as education, professional services, finance and insurance, or public administrations.
Wages below inflation
The Bilan de l’IDQ notes that while wages grew faster than inflation between 2018 and 2020, the trend reversed during the pandemic. Indeed, the real wage, i.e. the inflation-adjusted wage, “has indeed fallen, but not to the point of putting workers in a more disadvantageous situation than in 2019”.
“Despite a significant rebound in the labor market, the challenges it faces are still numerous,” said the IDQ, giving as an example the aging of the population which “continues — and will continue — to restrict the potential supply of labor. ‘artwork”.
The Institute also believes that the restaurant, accommodation and retail sectors are likely to face persistent recruitment difficulties and that they will have to review their business model and work organization.
Also, jobs that do not allow you to work in “hybrid” mode could lose popularity.
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