Labour Market Insights
What Were Jobseekers Looking for in 2024?: Windsor-Essex Job Search Trends
The Workforce WindsorEssex website attracts nearly one million page views annually, with the majority of visitors actively seeking new employment opportunities. This engagement provides us with insights into the behaviours and preferences of today’s jobseekers. Through our Job Board, Job Map, Career Explorer and other innovative tools, we can highlight the job search trends in our region.
Workforce WindsorEssex gathers data by tracking how users interact with these digital tools, including their search queries, clicks, and filter usage. We then analyze this aggregated information to identify patterns and trends, helping us improve our services and better support jobseekers. From here, we can look at what jobseekers are searching for, which job postings receive the most clicks, how are preferences shift between full-time and part-time roles, and more.
In 2024, the Workforce WindsorEssex Job Board revealed intriguing patterns in jobseeker behaviour in terms of the types of jobs and occupations most searched-for. Certain occupations are experiencing an increase in searches, while others are trending downward, reflecting the changing demands of the Windsor-Essex region’s workforce. Additionally, language preferences are emerging as a factor in job searches, highlighting the diverse linguistic needs of jobseekers. Examining these trends under the scope of a full year provides valuable insights into market demands, helping align workforce skills with employer expectations and, ultimately, fostering a more efficient and responsive job market in the Windsor-Essex region.
As a quick baseline, the Workforce WindsorEssex Job Board saw 288,970 post clicks in 2024, up 12% from the previous year. Job Board interactions were also up 13% from the previous year. As the region did see an increase in population, with the working-age population up 4.1% from 321,700 in January 2024 to 335,000 in December 2024, more people would be looking for employment.
Job Type Interest and Job Duration Interest
Jobseekers using the Workforce WindsorEssex Job Board that filtered by Job Type Interest were looking more for part time work versus full time work, and were also interested more in Permanent work, versus Temporary or Contract work. This does not mean that this was the preference overall, just for those using the filters on the Job Board.
Reasons for this could include those with full time work looking to add an additional job to their plate, either because they want to or because they need to. According to the Quality of Employment in Canada Multiple Jobholders 2023 data, released on July 25, 2024, “in 2023, the share of employed Canadians holding more than one job was 5.6%, representing approximately 1.1 million people”.
It is also important to note that multiple jobholding is more common among newer immigrants compared to their Canadian-born counterparts and that they are more likely to be working multiple jobs to afford essentials: “In 2023, recent employed immigrants who had had landed five years ago or less (7.0%) and those who had landed from five to 10 years prior (7.0%) had higher rates of multiple jobholding compared with both workers born in Canada (5.3%) and established immigrants who had landed in Canada more than 10 year earlier (5.5%). Data from the LFS supplement showed that in August 2023, the share of workers holding multiple jobs primarily to afford essential goods was higher for immigrants who had arrived within the last 5 to 10 years (51.4%) and for recent immigrants (50.1%) than for more established immigrants (40.6%) and persons born in Canada (29.8%, population aged 15 to 69)” (Statistics Canada).
Top Occupational Interests
In looking through the data, we can see certain occupations that received more attention than they previously did. While these occupations did not appear on the top 20 most searched-for occupations list for 2024, further down in this section, it is interesting to note the local increase in interest.
Top Declining Occupational Interests
Similarly, we can see occupations that saw a significant decrease in interactions, likely due to these occupations not seeing much of a demand in the region.
The top 20 searched-for occupations overall in Windsor-Essex for 2024 on the Job Board were:
| Ranking | Searched Overall in 2024 | Number of Search Instances in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retail Salepersons and Visual Merchandisers | 14,331 |
| 2 | Material Handlers | 9,746 |
| 3 | Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations | 9,424 |
| 4 | Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers | 8,219 |
| 5 | Administrative Assistants | 7,529 |
| 6 | Other Customer and Information Services Representatives | 7,277 |
| 7 | Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities | 6,293 |
| 8 | Administrative Officers | 6,079 |
| 9 | Receptionists | 4,693 |
| 10 | Construction Trades Helpers and Labourers | 4,277 |
| 11 | Light Duty Cleaners | 4,162 |
| 12 | Transport Truck Drivers | 3,724 |
| 13 | Cashiers | 3,654 |
| 14 | Medical Administrative Assistants | 3,628 |
| 15 | Social and Community Service Workers | 3,436 |
| 16 | Food and Beverage Servers | 2,707 |
| 17 | Cooks | 2,667 |
| 18 | Accounting and Related Clerks | 2,360 |
| 19 | Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers | 2,617 |
| 20 | Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers | 2,553 |
These numbers are specific to the Job Board. To learn more about the occupations listed in these tables, visit the Career Library.
The top 20 searched-for occupations for 2024 reveal that jobseekers are looking at Retail Salepersons and Visual Merchandisers occupations more than any other occupation. There seems to be a big interest in customer-facing positions, especially in the Retail Trade (through Retail Salepersons and Visual Merchandisers; Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers; Other Customer and Information Services Representatives; Cashiers; and Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers) and Accommodation and Food Services (Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Support Occupations; Food and Beverage Servers; and Cooks) sectors. The skilled trades are also represented on the list (Construction Trades Helpers and Labourers). We also see office work well represented, in medical and other fields (Administrative Assistants, Administrative Officers, Receptionists, and Medical Administrative Assistants) as well as the Finance sector (Accounting and Related Clerks and Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers).
Special Interest Searches
Jobseekers can use special interest filters on the Workforce WindsorEssex Job Board to narrow down the type of jobs they are searching for. In looking at what special interest filters were used, when used, we can see the demand in jobseekers looking for student jobs as well as work from home jobs. Also of note is the use of the casual and seasonal employment filters, which would also likely factor into the previously-mentioned interest in part time work from jobseekers.
Language Searches
In terms of jobseekers using language filters in their searches on the Job Board, French is the number one language users are filtering for. Arabic is the second-most filtered for language, which makes sense as it is also one of the top five languages spoken in Windsor-Essex (City of Windsor).
Conclusion
Understanding the job search trends of Windsor-Essex residents through the Workforce WindsorEssex Job Board is important for both jobseekers and employers alike. By analyzing this data, we observe key patterns, such as increased interest in part time work, customer-facing occupations, and skilled trades. These insights enable jobseekers to align their skills and career aspirations with market demand, enhancing their employment prospects. For employers, this data provides a strategic advantage in adjusting their recruitment efforts to attract the right talent and address skill gaps in their workforce.
THE FINDINGS OF THIS REPORT WERE SOURCED FROM:
MONTHLY JOB DEMAND REPORT
As of April 2019, the monthly Job Demand Report for Windsor-Essex is created by Workforce WindsorEssex using data collected from 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.
