Occupational changes
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Another way to analyze employment changes during the downturn and the subsequent recovery period is to study employment variations across occupations, again by looking at pro-cyclical, countercyclical, expanding during both the downturn and the recovery, and declining during both the downturn and the recovery.Note 1
Most occupation categories were pro-cyclical. Although losses occurred in occupations unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities; and trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (Chart A.1), both categories were able to recoup about 50% of the job losses during the recovery that followed. Similarly, management occupations shed 4% of their jobs and recovered 1% during the recovery. Other pro-cyclical occupations gained more during the recovery compared with their losses during the recession. Employment in health occupations declined by less than 1% during the downturn, but was followed by a relatively strong growth of 9% during the recovery period.
Occupations in social science, education, government service and religion grew by almost 3% during both the recession and the recovery. None of the occupational groups went through a sustained decline over the period and there was one countercyclical occupational group—occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport.
Since January 2011, occupational groups have recorded varying increases in employment levels. (Table A.1). Natural and applied sciences and related occupations benefited the most by gaining 114,000 jobs. This group was followed by trades, transport, equipment operators and related occupations at 105,000. Natural and applied sciences were mostly concentrated in professional, scientific and technical industries. However, firms in this industry also shed many administrative jobs (business, finance and administrative occupations) at the same time, which explains why employment varied little over the period in professional, scientific and technical industries.
Table A.1
Employment changes by occupation, January 2011 and February 2013
January 2011 | February 2013 | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
thousand | thousand | percentage | ||
Total employed, all occupations | 17,233.5 | 17,696.4 | 462.9 | 2.7 |
Management | 1,509.2 | 1,502.9 | -6.3 | -0.4 |
Business, finance and administration | 3,154.4 | 3,157.4 | 3.0 | 0.1 |
Natural and applied sciences | 1,243.5 | 1,357.2 | 113.7 | 9.1 |
Health | 1,137.7 | 1,183.3 | 45.6 | 4.0 |
Social science, education, government and religion | 1,599.1 | 1,659.2 | 60.1 | 3.8 |
Art, culture, recreation and sport | 525.0 | 595.2 | 70.2 | 13.4 |
Sales and service | 4,178.3 | 4,261.6 | 83.3 | 2.0 |
Trades, transport and equipment operators | 2,529.5 | 2,634.0 | 104.5 | 4.1 |
Unique to primary | 539.9 | 557.4 | 17.5 | 3.2 |
Unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities | 817.0 | 788.2 | -28.8 | -3.5 |
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, 2011 and 2013. CANSIM table 282-0093. |
Finally, knowing the required skill levels of occupations with the greatest growth can be helpful to identify which skills are currently in demand. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) classifies occupations into the following four groups based on required level of education:
- management occupations
- occupations that usually require a university education
- occupations requiring a college education or apprenticeship training
- occupations for which a high school education and/or occupation-specific training is sufficient, and occupations where on-the-job training is usually provided.
In the two years that followed the recovery (January 2011 to January 2013), occupations requiring a college education or apprenticeship training recorded the largest gains in employment—both in terms of level (267,000) and percentage (5%).Note 2 Occupations requiring a university education also grew by 120,000 (4%) over the period. Growth was more mitigated among occupations requiring a high school diploma or less (62,000 or 1%), whereas the number of management occupations declined slightly over the period (-1% or 18,000 individuals).
Notes
- Since data on comparable occupational categories are not available before 1991, it was not possible to derive similar statistics based on occupations for the early 1990s and the early 1980s.
- This analysis could not be extended to February 2013 because seasonally adjusted data from which the four categories of skills were derived are not available. Consequently, the discussion on employment changes across skill categories is based on seasonally unadjusted data over the 2-year period from January 2011 to January 2013.
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