Labour Market Insights Blog

Moving Through the Roadmap to Reopen: Top Occupations and In-Demand Jobs for Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Ontario entered Step One of the government’s Roadmap to Reopen on June 11 and moved to Step Two on June 30—two days earlier than expected. Step Two permits essential retail at 50% capacity, non-essential retail at 25% capacity, stores open in shopping malls, outdoor dining for up to six at a table, personal care services at 25% capacity, outdoor sports leagues, training for professional or amateur athletes and/or competitions, and outdoor fitness classes and personal training with some limits. Under the current targets, it is possible that Ontario could enter Step Three by July 20 at the earliest.

June 2021 saw 5,672 total active job postings from 1,794 companies for an increase of 24.36% over the previous month’s 4,561 total active job postings. The Job Board received 16,980 interactions (a decrease of 14.73% from 19,481 interactions in May) from 5,763 users (a decrease of 10.4% from the previous month).

The top searched-for occupations overall in Windsor-Essex for June 2021 were:

Top occupations searched overall in Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Administrative Assistants; Retail Salespersons; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers; and Material Handlers.

The top searched-for occupations by men in Windsor-Essex for June 2021 were:

Top occupations searched by men in Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Material Handlers; Retail Salespersons; Delivery and Courier Service Drivers; Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities; and Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers.

The top searched-for occupations by women in Windsor-Essex for June 2021 were:

Top occupations searched by women in Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Administrative Assistants; Retails Salespersons; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers; and Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations.

While May had shown an increase of women searching for occupations in Social and Community Service Workers (181 search instances), the number decreased 196.72% for June with 61 search instances. The increase in May could have been due to those organizations that hire Social and Community Service Workers getting ready to have services in place for the summer and, as the government permitted additional businesses to open, many of these Social and Community Service Workers are already in place for June.

We are seeing an increase in men searching for occupations in Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities. This occupation includes labourers who perform material handling, clean-up, packaging, and other elemental activities in processing, manufacturing, and utilities. They are employed by companies that manufacture products such as clothing, footwear, furniture, and electrical and electronic products, and by printing and packaging companies. As Ontario prepares to open further and lift public health measures in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more businesses are ramping back up and getting ready to resume production. Additionally, those that have been laid off from auto manufacturing due to chip shortages may be looking for comparable work in this sector.

The top 10 in-demand occupations by local employers for June 2021 were:

Top 10 in-demand occupations for Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Retail Salespersons; Transport Truck Drivers; Material Handlers; Cooks; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers; Delivery and Courier Service Drivers; Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations; and Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers.

While Retail Salespersons are consistently in-demand, June 2021 certainly saw a significant increase in job postings for this occupation, with 324 postings (up 89.47% from 171 postings in May)—the highest number of postings we’ve seen for this occupation in quite some time. In comparison, there were 276 postings for Retail Salespersons at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures in March 2020 and 253 postings prior to the pandemic in February 2020. This increase in demand can be attributed to retail opening back up in steps and businesses preparing to serve more customers in person as Ontario is on target to reopen.

Top hiring sectors by two-digit NAICS in Windsor-Essex for June 2021

Additionally, the top hiring sectors by two-digit NAICS further demonstrates the demand in the Retail Trade sector with 903 postings, up 55.96% from 579 postings in May. The Accommodation and Food Services sector has also seen an increase, with 338 postings (up 38.52% from 244 postings in May). Also seeing an increase is the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector, with 64 postings (an increase of 128.57% from 28 postings in May). Similar to the Retail Trade sector, the Accommodation and Food Services and Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sectors are showing an increase in demand due to the province’s reopening plan permitting retail, restaurants, fitness, and other entertainment facilities to slowly reopen with public health measures in place.

A number of two-digit NAICS industries such as Accommodation and Food Services; Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services; Construction; Educational Services; Finance and Insurance; Information and Cultural Industries; Manufacturing; Other Services (Except Public Administration); Retail Trade; Utilities; and Wholesale Trade experienced the highest number of job postings last month compared to any other month since we began tracking these numbers in October 2019.

Top hiring sectors by six-digit NAICS in Windsor-Essex for June 2021

The top hiring sectors by six-digit NAICS shows an increase in some of the types of places these in-demand Retail Salespersons are working, with 205 postings for Hardware Stores (up 120.43% from 93 postings in May), 134 postings for Supermarkets and other Grocery (Except Convenience) Stores (up 28.85% from 104 postings in May), and 73 postings for All Other Miscellaneous General Merchandise Stores (up 65.91% from 44 postings in May).

Looking at the Employment by Industry, three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality (x 1,000) table from Statistics Canada, there were 19,900 employed in the Wholesale and Retail Trade industry in the Windsor CMA in June 2019. June 2020 saw a decrease of 2,400 jobs to 17,500 employed in the industry. This increased to 22,400 employed in the Wholesale and Retail Trade industry in May 2021, 12.56% higher than pre-pandemic employment levels in June 2019, although this can change quickly given the precarious nature of the pandemic and accompanying public health measures.

 


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.