Labour Market Insights
Pausing the Roadmap to Reopen: Top Occupations and In-Demand Jobs for Windsor-Essex for August 2021
As Ontario grapples with the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, job demand and search reflect the changing employment landscape. The Government of Ontario has paused their exit from the Roadmap to Reopen in response to the Delta variant, although they are monitoring the data to determine when it is safe to reopen further. The province has been in Step Three of the Roadmap to Reopen since July 16.
August saw 5,730 total active job postings from 1,917 companies for a decrease of 0.85% over the previous month’s 5,779 total active job postings. The Job Board received 17,778 interactions (an increase of 11.18% from 15,991 interactions in July) from 4,911 users (a decrease of 4.1% from the previous month).
The top searched-for occupations overall in Windsor-Essex for August 2021 were:
Retail Salespersons; Administrative Assistants; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Receptionists; and Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations.
The top searched-for occupations by men in Windsor-Essex for August 2021 were:
Retail Salespersons; Transport Truck Drivers; Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities; Material Handlers; and Delivery and Courier Service Drivers.
The top searched-for occupations by women in Windsor-Essex for August 2021 were:
Administrative Assistants, Retail Salespersons, Receptionists, Other Customer and Information Services Representatives, and Administrative Officers.
New on this list for top searched-for occupations by women are Administrative Officers, which oversee and implement administrative procedures, establish work priorities, conduct analyses of administrative operations, and coordinate acquisition of administrative services such as office space, supplies, and security services. Administrative Officers who are supervisors are included in this unit group.
Overall, August saw an increase in individuals interacting with job postings for Administrative Assistants (722 in August versus 566 in July for an increase of 27.56%), Other Customer and Information Services Representatives (484 in August versus 411 in July for an increase of 17.76%), and Receptionists (430 in August versus 342 in July for an increase of 25.73%). This could be due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the Windsor-Essex region making jobs in an office environment that could be done from home, instead of in-person at a retail or hospitality setting, more desirable.
Of those using specific search terms on the Job Board related to Administrative Assistants, Receptionists, and work from home positions, the majority of users who indicated their gender were female. There were 28 instances of searches for Administrative Assistants or similar keywords, eight were females (two ages 25-34, two ages 35-54, and four ages 55-64) and two were male (one ages 15-24 and one ages 25-34). There were eight instances of searches for Receptionist, of which two were female (one ages 25-34 and one ages 35-54) and zero were male. Lastly, there were nine instances of searches for work from home or similar terms, five were female (one ages 25-34 and four ages 35-54) and zero were male. The remaining balance did not choose to identify.
The top 10 in-demand occupations by local employers for August 2021 were:
Retail Salespersons; Transport Truck Drivers; Cooks; Material Handlers; Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers; Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations; Home Support Workers, Housekeepers and Related Occupations; Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers; Delivery and Courier Service Drivers; and Food and Beverage Servers.
There was a slight increase in demand for Food and Beverage Servers, with 95 posts in August versus 83 in July for an increase of 14.46%. This could be due to restaurants and other food service establishments seeing an increase in demand for dining on their premises, whether indoor or outdoor, since capacity has increased. Food and Beverage servers take patrons’ food and beverage orders and serve orders to patrons. They are employed in restaurants, hotels, bars, taverns, private clubs, banquet halls, and similar establishments. As more people are utilizing private clubs and banquet halls for weddings and other events, there is an increase in demand for this occupation.
Demand for Retail Salespersons continues to be high with 367 postings, although down from the record high of 390 postings in July, which was the highest number of postings in that sector, even pre-pandemic. Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers have also seen an increase of 10.74% (134 postings in August versus 121 postings in July). Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers plan, organize, direct, control, and evaluate the operations of establishments that sell merchandise or services on a retail or wholesale basis and are either employed by retail and wholesale sales establishments or may own and operate their own store.
As we can see from the top hiring sectors by two-digit NAICS, the Retail Trade sector saw 890 job postings total, down from 909 in July, but still very much an in-demand sector. This was second only to Administrative and Support, Waste and Remediation Services at 903 postings, however, this unit also includes Employment Agencies, so this number is typically high.
Demand increased 16.03% in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector, with 514 postings in August versus 443 in July. This could be due to increasing case counts of COVID-19 in the Windsor-Essex region and the increased need for various health care workers, both in hospital and in long-term care settings.
Looking at hiring by six-digit NAICS, we see an increase in hiring for General (Except Paediatric) Hospitals with 66 postings in August versus 57 postings in July (an increase of 15.79%). Hiring in Community Health Centres (50 postings in August versus 53 in July) and Nursing Care Facilities (85 in August versus 83 in July) is relatively steady. Community Care Facilities for the Elderly, which did not appear on the top 20 hiring sectors by six-digit NAICS in the previous month, is on the list at number 17 with 67 job postings, indicating an increase in demand in that sector as well.
THE FINDINGS OF THIS REPORT WERE SOURCED FROM:
MONTHLY JOB DEMAND REPORT
ABOUT THIS REPORT:
As of April 2019, the monthly Job Demand Report for Windsor-Essex is created by Workforce WindsorEssex using data collected from 14 unique national, provincial and locally-significant job boards. Between May 2017 and March 2019, job posting data was purchased from CEB Talent Neuron.
MONTHLY JOB SEARCH REPORT
The monthly Job Search Report for Windsor-Essex is created by Workforce WindsorEssex using data collected from four job finding tools, including WEexplore, WEmap jobs, WEjobs board, and the Bridge Timeline Tool. Gender and age information of users is voluntarily shared with the organization.
Questions? Please contact: info@workforcewindsoressex.com.
