• Français
Future Skills Center logo
Français
Polygon Created with Sketch. Home | Research
Research

Canadian Labour Demand Update: Analysis of Job Postings for the Fourth Quarter of 2020

This report provides an update of labour demand trends from October to December 2020 with data sourced from the Vicinity Jobs Hiring Demand Analytics Suite.

Key Takeaways

1

While the number of Canadian workers who were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown declined from a high of five million in April 2020 to 1.1 million by December 2020, the trend in the final months of the year signalled a reversal of this mid-year recovery.

2

In December 2020, both the participation rate and employment numbers declined across Canada.

3

There were 517,780 jobs posted across Canada in the last three months of 2020, representing a 19% decline from the same period in 2019.

Executive Summary

The labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt throughout the entirety of 2020. While the number of Canadian workers who were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown declined from a high of five million in April 2020 to 1.1 million by December 2020, the trend in the final months of the year signalled a reversal of this mid-year recovery. In December 2020, both the participation rate and employment numbers declined across Canada.

The first report in this series — Labour Demand Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic, published in December 2020 — showed that labour demand sharply declined in the spring of 2020 following the pandemic-induced economic shutdown. The number of job postings in April 2020 was 58% lower than the same period in 2019; however, labour demand started recovering over the summer and autumn, which caused this gap to shrink to only 7% by September 2020.

In this report, we provide an update of labour demand trends for the period of October to December 2020. As in our first report, the data has been sourced from the Vicinity Jobs Hiring Demand Analytics Suite, which collates data on online job postings across Canada. The first part of the report discusses labour demand in Canada, while briefly highlighting the changes relative to the same period in 2019. We identify the sectors that are leading in job postings, as well as the top occupations and in-demand skills. The second part presents detailed labour demand trends for Alberta and Ontario. We focus on these two provinces because their labour markets have been the most severely affected by the pandemic-induced economic slowdown in Canada.

Related Content

Three people collaborating on project in IT development office
Research

OpportuNext

  • July 2025
  • The Conference Board of Canada
The OpportuNext platform, developed by the Conference Board of Canada with support from the Future Skills Centre, addresses this gap by providing a free, bilingual and user-friendly digital tool that helps users explore career options based on skill similarity, salary prospects and job outlook.
1 Related Reports
Planning, teamwork and meeting with business people in boardroom for strategy, brainstorming and solution. Corporate, collaboration and conference with employees in office for negotiation development.
Research

Thriving Workplaces: A Dual-Client Approach to Career Services

  • June 2025
  • MixtMode, Canadian Career Development Foundation
The project aims to improve employment outcomes by engaging both work seekers and employers in structured career navigation activities.
2 Related Reports
doctor taking blood pressure of a patient
Research

Indigenous Professionals Needed: Increasing Indigenous Representation in Healthcare in Canadaexternal link icon

  • June 2025
This project will develop insights that can be used to increase both the Indigenous talent pool and professional development for Indigenous people in healthcare professions in Canada.
View all Research