2023 - Year in Review

I can’t believe another year has gone by - how the time flies! To say it’s been an eventful year would be an understatement - so many things happened this year job market wise - many of them fairly wide reaching. So as we prepare to say goodbye to another year, let’s recount some of the biggest events and trends that happened in 2023 in the US and Canadian markets.

In the United States

Return to office mandates

Coming off the heels of Covid in 2022, the market started to slowly shift back to “normal”, with many companies requiring their staff to either return to the office full-time or in a hybrid scenario.

Needless to say, this move wasn’t well received by many staff…

That hasn’t stopped many companies though. Last I heard, remote roles only made up about 10% of job openings.

Massive tech sector layoffs

Early 2023 proved to be a pretty dark time, with over 200,000 workers being let go by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon by the end of April 2023.

As the year continued, it went from being a job seeker’s market (marked by the Great Resignation which began in 2022) to an employer’s market. Soon, it would no longer be considered uncommon to apply to hundreds of jobs with no response, and posts like this would become commonplace👇🏻

The advent of GPT and other AI platforms

Even though ChatGPT was technically released in November 2022, it didn’t pick up steam till the first few months of 2023.

Needless to say, it’s had a big impact on how people and companies work and I only expect it to become even more integrated into all kinds of things, from hiring to copywriting and even software development.

What to expect in 2024

The US outlook for 2024 isn’t as good as we’d like, but at least it’s going to be a bit better than 2023 (unless we get hit with another pandemic).

Some key predictions from MorningStar:

• Job growth to cooldown in early 2024. That means the rate at which the number of new jobs are created is going to come down a bit, but hopefully not for too long.

• Companies are expected to cut labor usage, meaning less hours to go around (though to what degree is anybody’s guess).

• Wage growth is also expected to slow down in 2024 along with the number of job openings.

• Unemployment will rise in 2024, though not by a lot.

Here’s what recruiters are saying about 2024…

How does this affect you:

The idea seems to be that the first half of 2024 is going to look similar to 2023. Don’t expect to see any big changes, at least in the first few months.

You’ll likely continue to see a lot of competition for open positions, so standing out is going to be super important. Don’t rely exclusively on your resume; you’ll need to network strategically if you want to move ahead. I’ll be talking more about this in future issues of JSG. In the meantime, check out what I’ve already written on these topics in past issues of JSG:

• Set realistic expectations to succeed

• How the job market has changed

• What to expect in a first round interview

• How recruiters read your resume

• Enlisting the help of recruiting agencies

• Three ways to power up your resume (and help it stand out)

• Use the LAMP Method to strategically job search

In Canada

While we were hit by some of the same waves as our neighbour to the south (namely, AI, return to office), we had some unique challenges of our own.

Rise in unemployment and a drop in job vacancies

This was according to Statistics Canada, which indicated that the country lost around 135,000 jobs between January and September. The job vacancy rate also continued to drop in the first half of 2023.

Wages didn’t grow in 2023 as much as we’d hoped either, with some industries barely making up for inflation.

Many Canadian workers prioritized work-life balance and mental wellbeing

According to polling by Robert Half, nearly half of Canadian workers were looking for other opportunities in 2023. Some of the reasons:

• A higher salary

• Better benefits and perks

• More advancement opportunities

• Greater flexibility to choose when and where they work.

This tells me are no longer content with the status quo, and expect better from their employers. Let’s see if companies take note of this.

What Canadians can expect in 2024

While 2024 isn’t looking great, it won’t be anything like a full-blown recession. Still, the Canadian economy is expected to struggle and the labor market is expected to cooldown a bit, which means:

• Slow wage growth

• Less job openings, and

• More competition

What that means for Canadian job seekers:

• If you’re looking for work, expect a longer than normal job search.

• If you’re looking exclusively for remote roles, your search could be even longer (remote roles are 10x as competitive).

• Don’t ask for the top end of the salary range unless you’re 100% sure you’re worth it (PS: You’re not if you meet less than 90% of the job requirements).

• If your job search goes on and on and you’re not seeing any results, consider how you’re positioning yourself.

And that’s a wrap folks. We’re just a couple weeks away from year end, and I wish you all a happy holiday season and an even happier new year’s.

What topics do you want to see me cover in future newsletters?

I’d love to hear from you - let me know if you have topics or questions you’d like me to cover.