For professionals such as accountants, engineers and nurses, it is a job seeker’s market in Canada.

Over 25% of employers across Canada reported that they were experiencing difficulty adequately staffing their companies due to a lack of available professionals, in a survey conducted by Manpower Canada, an employment services firm. In response employers are boosting salaries to avoid losing their professional staff. As Lori Rogers, Vice-President of Operations for Manpower said, “with competition for talent ever more fierce, in many cases employers are forced to offer higher compensation to attract and retain staff.” With the baby-boom generation reaching retirement age, these job market conditions can be expected to continue in coming years with much of the demand being met by immigration.

The high demand for professionals is found throughout all of Canada. Employers in Atlantic Canada displayed the highest unmet demand of the survey with 4 out of 10 employers reported they would have hired more professionals if they had found candidates, outpacing booming Alberta where job shortages are often reported. Results from the rest of Canada all indicated an approximately 25% rate of companies unable to find enough professionals to fill openings.