Most Canadians think they can find a new job in just one month
Canadian jobseekers are increasingly confident that they could find a new job within the next month, according to the latest Indeed Job Search Survey. However, the report also revealed a glaring gender gap on how women are less optimistic than their male counterparts.
Based on a survey among 4,000 Canadians, 54% of jobseekers said they’re confident of landing a new job in the next month, compared to 43% last July 2021. The survey also showed that confidence from both employed (61%) and unemployed (41%) individuals has increased, but the gap between both groups widened even further than in July of last year.
Region, gender, age
According to Indeed, jobseekers from Quebec were the most optimistic that they could find a new job within the next month, with 62% expressing such confidence.
Just after Quebec are the following provinces:
- Manitoba and Saskatchewan (54%)
- British Columbia (51%)
- Atlantic Canada (51%)
- Ontario (49%)
- Alberta (46%)
April was also the month when Quebec reported its historic low employment rate of 3.9%, according to Statistics Canada, with the employment rate dropping by 0.06%. In terms of gender, the report revealed that men are more confident of finding a new job in the next month than women, with 57% expressing optimism compared to the 45% of women.
"This overall 12 percentage point gap reflects lower proportions of women in both the 'somewhat' and 'very' confident job seeker categories," said the report.
It also revealed that the gender difference was "statistically significant in all regions except British Columbia."
The gender gap in confidence was also most noticeable among university grads, according to the report. About 65% of male university graduates are more confident of finding work quickly, compared with 42% of women who are also university graduates.
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While confidence in finding a new job declined for both genders when they only finished college, or high school, or less than high school - a gap can still be observed between men and women when it comes to optimism in landing a new job.
Read more: Indeed reveals the secrets to a golden onboarding plan
By age, younger job seekers are more confident than older ones when it comes to finding a job.
Job seekers aged 18 to 24 are the most optimistic with 55% of them saying they are confident of landing a new job.
They are closely followed by those aged:
- 25 to 34 years old (54%)
- 35 to 44 years old (53%)
- 45 to 54 years old (47%)
- 55 to 64 years old (44%)
The report attributed this to the "greater flexibility" for younger workers when it comes to opportunities. This is unlike the situation of more experienced workers who are already within a particular niche in the job market. Among immigrants, the report also revealed that newcomers are more confident of quickly landing a job than those who have been in Canada longer.
According to the survey, 65% of men and 53% of women who arrived 10 years and less in Canada are more confident than jobseekers who have stayed longer.
In fact, the report showed they are even more optimistic than those who are born in Canada.
"The fact that groups such as youth and recent immigrants are expressing elevated confidence could mean upside potential for the overall labour market," read the report.
However, it pointed out that the prevailing gender gap between men and women remains a challenge, stressing that it will take "more than a hot job market" to even the playing field in Canada.