Canada’s banks expanded their workforces last quarter at the fastest pace in almost four years, braving a historically tight labor market to bolster their sales staffs and technology operations.
The combined workforce of Canada’s six largest lenders swelled to 390,724 as of the quarter that ended April 30, up 1.9% from the previous quarter. That’s the fastest growth in consecutive periods since the third quarter of the banks’ 2018 fiscal year.
The hiring rush comes as Canada’s unemployment rate hit a low of 5.2% in April — the lowest in data going back to 1976. Luckily for the banks, average wage growth is just over 3%, not too far beyond what would be considered normal.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had the fastest growth on a percentage basis last quarter, at 3.9%. Chief Executive Victor Dodig has said the bank will be investing in technology workers and front-line, revenue-generating employees to spur sales growth.
Toronto-Dominion Bank added the most workers on an absolute basis, at 2,380, and almost half of those hires came in its corporate segment. The lender, which is buying First Horizon for $13.4 billion to expand in the U.S., said in January that it planned to hire more than 2,000
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia both expanded their workforces by about 0.9%, roughly tying for the slowest pace of growth.
