Top 5 Industries in Canada Hiring Temporary Workers

As we see vaccines permeating more and more throughout the world, we are also seeing businesses recover. Most places in Canada, like Ontario, are operating in full swing. This is great news for job seekers who might find that there is a new opportunity almost every day. This is especially great news if you find yourself falling into the category of temporary workers or temporary foreign worker (TFW).

Most people who take up temp jobs in Canada are doing it either as a part-time gig to supplement their lifestyle or to try and make ends meet. This means you could have more than one job at a given time. University students are a great example of such a demographic looking to work while supplementing a primary lifestyle.

Having said that, in this blog, we want to walk you through some of the industries in Canada that are hiring temporary workers. These industries are leading the pack in this area and it’s well worth your time to consider all avenues of possibility before jumping into the temporary worker’s lifestyle. So, without delay, here are the top 5 industries hiring temp workers in Canada. Please note that for this blog, we will mainly be referring to the province of Ontario to get an idea of different industries.

When you think of the food industry, you probably think of grocery stores or restaurants. To be fair, restaurants and grocery stores were working overtime to stay afloat during the peak of the pandemic. Grocery stores were even designated as essential services. However, there are still plenty of other behind-the-scenes businesses that have been fighting the same battles to keep food on our shelves.

Ever since the onset of the pandemic, we have all seen how food delivery services took off. Ordering food online has become the new norm. With that came a higher demand for different avenues of ordering food thanks to the widespread reach it enabled. In Canada, temporary workers are seeing plenty of opportunities in the sourcing points of the food industry. For example, there are plenty of job opportunities in the meat-packing industry, in slaughterhouses and even in the agricultural side of things on account of the crops that also need to be sourced. According to job sites like Indeed Canada, the average pay for meatpackers can range anywhere from CAD 16 per hour to CAD 20+ per hour.

Warehouse Logistics

Remember when we mentioned all the online food ordering and online shopping trends that were put into motion as a result of the pandemic? Well, this is one of the few industries that thrived – logistics.

We are specifically talking about shipping, logistics and warehousing. Online shopping has resulted in an increase in orders going direct to warehouses. Examples of jobs most often taken up by temporary workers are Pickers and Packers.

Warehouse sector for temporary workers

They fill orders and get them to the customer’s doorstep. Even the aforementioned food industry relied on warehousing, shipping and logistics to keep products on the shelves. The average salary for temporary workers in this line of work (pickers and packers) can range anywhere from CAD 15 per hour to CAD 30 per hour, depending on which company you work for. Keep in mind, that these averages are just that, an average range. They don’t actively represent actual numbers in the workplace, which will vary.

Just so you are convinced on this point, all you need to do is have a look at Amazon. The company made its fortune during the peak of the pandemic with shipping and logistics. It quite literally allowed its Founder and ex-CEO, Jeff Bezos, to launch himself into the stratosphere, making him one of the richest people on the planet.

Sanitation Services

Now, while the cleaning and sanitation sector might not seem like a stand-alone industry, its services are present in nearly every sector. It is highly permeated and cleaning staff are needed from offices to factory floors. Given the need for high levels of sanitation in this post-Covid-19 era, the demand for people to fill these roles will be high.

The demand for these roles is likely to stay high for the foreseeable future. Good examples of roles in this sector include janitorial workers. According to Indeed Canada, the average range for these roles in Ontario can start at CAD 15 per hour and go up to around CAD 22 per hour.

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot, English Novelist

education sector hiring temporary workers

Education Sector

The education industry was forever changed when the lockdown happened. Students and teachers were forced into cyberspace to have online classes.

To facilitate this, schools and colleges had to hire educators or other temporary staff. They needed these educators to help develop and adapt content for the online space on a term-by-term basis. Another factor driving the demand for temp workers in the online education space is the uncertainty that the future holds.

We can never say for certain what the future will be like. Will there be another lockdown? Will there be another global pandemic? No one knows for certain. What the past few years have taught us is that it is better to be prepared for anything. Hence, having temporary workers involved in the education sector helps to maintain a degree of flexibility. A good example of a role that you could consider is a teaching assistant. The average salary for this position in Ontario is around CAD 18 per hour to around CAD 27 per hour, depending on the institution.

Customer Service Industry

Customer service representatives are almost always in demand in the industry. The only notable difference would be the integration of the online customer services to a greater degree as opposed to the in-office positions that were prominent pre-pandemic.

Given the need to reach a wider target audience and expand, businesses have had to increase their available customer service representative roles. In Ontario, customer service reps see an average wage range of CAD 18 to CAD 30 per hour.

An Overview of Demand for Temporary Workers

It would seem that the number of temporary workers has been steadily on the rise. A study by the Canadian government showed that temporary foreign workers have been a significant part of the contribution to the labour market. The report which was released in June of 2020, during the beginning stages of the global pandemic, showed that close to 470,000 foreign nationals had a work permit. Keep in mind that they were impacted by the lockdowns and the virus.

The point is, that temps have been a huge part of the labour industry in the country. Just look at 2017 where 550,000 temporary workers accounted for 2.9 per cent of the total employment numbers. The professions for TFWs and temps in Canada stretch across various industries from agriculture to finance, healthcare, and logistics. Social assistance, cultural industries and so much more.

The ground reality is that, despite the hardships we faced in the last two years, the temporary workers of Canada are seeing the job market bounce back. If there was ever a good time to be a temp, it is now!

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