More than 3,000 people have lost their jobs to mass layoffs since the beginning of the year, a phenomenon that is expected to increase, according to an expert.
“We are heading towards an increase in layoffs. There’s the lightning-fast advent of e-commerce. The detail is touched on,” says Jean-Claude Bernatchez, professor of industrial relations at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières.
“Inflation has led to a drop in demand for certain services, particularly catering,” he points out.
A collective redundancy occurs when the employer dismisses 10 or more employees.
From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, the Labor Department lists 9,529, the industrial relations expert notes.
According to him, some layoffs could reflect a new way of organizing work, more influenced by artificial intelligence than before.
“Jobs will change in the ports. They will continue to hire, but the nature of the work will be turned upside down,” says Professor Jean-Claude Bernatchez.
Stagnant attitude
For Matthieu Arseneau, deputy chief economist at the National Bank, we have to be careful about mass layoffs because we don’t know if the workers affected have found new jobs.
“There are clear signs of a slowdown in the labor market for the first few months of the year. No full-time jobs have been created for two months,” warns Mr. Arseneau, however.
“We may be in the hiring freeze phase right now rather than big losses. We’re talking about stagnation in hiring given companies’ caution,” he summarizes.
– With the collaboration of Sylvain Larocque
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