What are the biggest challenges facing employers for next quarter?
Business seems to be going well in Canada, according to most employers.
As of the second quarter of 2024, 72.1% of Canadian employers are very optimistic or somewhat optimistic about their future outlook over the next 12 months, reports Statistics Canada (StatCan).
That number has increased from 68.4% of businesses in the first quarter and 65.9% of businesses in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the report.
Small employers in Canada are divided when it comes to their view of the economy in the country, according to a previous report from APD.
Weather-related challenges for employers
One thing going for Canadian employers is that the majority (85.9%) of businesses report not having been impacted by natural disasters or weather-related emergencies over the last 12 months.
This is the case even though, in 2023, environmental catastrophes and natural disasters cost the global economy US$380 billion in 2023, according to a report from Aon.
However, among the 14.1% of businesses that indicate having been impacted, nearly two-thirds (66.1%) experienced either a medium or high level of impact, says StatCan.
About a quarter (22.5%) of businesses impacted by a natural disaster or weather-related emergency in the last 12 months were fully prepared for the impact and over half (55.1%) were partially prepared. However, 22.4% were not prepared at all.
What is the biggest challenge that you have faced in your workplace?
As for the top obstacles facing employers over the next quarter, these are:
- rising inflation (54.4%)
- rising costs of inputs (44.6%)
- rising interest rates and debt costs (40.6%).
When asked to indicate which expected obstacle would be the most challenging, 13.5% of businesses identified rising inflation, 12.1% indicated rising cost of inputs and 9.2% reported recruiting skilled employees.
In the first quarter of 2024, rising inflation (13.7%), rising cost of inputs (10.6%) and recruiting skilled employees (10.0%) were also the top obstacles that employers cited as their top challenges.
Employers’ expectations of recruitment and retention also did not change from the first and second three months of 2024, found StatCan:
Source: Statistics Canada (StatCan)
Employees who feel confident in their job search saw a decline in the second quarter of 2024 as employers grow "increasingly strategic" in hiring, according to a previous report.
