Amid job losses nationwide, Toronto pub owner says he's received 250 resumes but can't afford to hire

CBC

2 days ago

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After recent data shows tens of thousands of jobs were lost in Canada last month, one restaurant owner in Toronto says he's received dozens of resumes but cannot afford to hire any more people amid economic uncertainty.
The Canadian economy lost more than 40,000 jobs in July, according to data from Statistics Canada released on Friday. The unemployment rate remained steady but at a multi-year high level of 6.9 per cent, the agency said.
The hardest hit sector was the information, culture and recreation industry, which includes restaurants. 29,000 jobs were lost in the sector last month.
Cesar Mesen is the owner and operating partner of The Pint Public House, located in downtown Toronto near John Street and Front Street W.
Cesar Mesan, who owns The Pint Public House in downtown Toronto, says the pub typically does a hiring blitz of around 40 to 50 people starting in April, when baseball season begins.
But this summer, he said his business hired a fraction of that.
"If we post for one position, we maybe get 90, 100 candidates," he said.
Fewer customers are coming out and sales are shrinking, Mesen said. Currently, he said he has received around 200 to 250 resumes that he does not have jobs for.
"I cannot just hire people because I feel bad for them … right now, we don't have a need to hire," he said.
Job losses last month mainly among young people
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, the decline last month was largely driven by job losses among young people, aged between 15 to 24.
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Mesen said most of the applications he's received are from young people. In the hospitality industry, where many people tend to get their first jobs or summer jobs, there are not a lot of vacant positions, he said.
"It's really sad because those are very important, formative years where you come and work into a place and you learn people skills, social skills, you learn to work as a team," he said.
He says the pub has been operating under uncertainty for the past several months amidst U.S. tariffs. A lot of the equipment he needs is from the U.S. and is not manufactured in Canada.
"We truly don't know where this is going or what is going to happen," he said.
Plans to grow The Pint through expansion or new programs and initiatives are currently on hold, he said.
Tariffs latest in challenging few years for businesses: expert
Simon Gaudreault is the chief economist and vice president of research for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The federation has surveyed its members —- small and medium sized businesses in Canada — every month since 2009.
The number of businesses who have said they want to add staff has been below seasonable norms since the start of 2025, compared to the same period last year or in pre-pandemic years, he said.
Alongside this, he said the number of businesses that have indicated they want to reduce staff has been higher so far this year than in comparable time periods for previous years.
As Canada continues dealing with U.S. tariffs, Gaudreault said businesses are dealing with great uncertainty.
"Business owners will be careful [and] will try to make sure they keep a certain room to maneuver for the next few months," he said. "Unfortunately that can translate into a hiring freeze."
He called the trade war the latest chapter in a series of very tough chapters for businesses.
"Before that, it was the inflation and the supply chain issues, and before that it was the pandemic," he said.
"Certainly for a lot of businesses right now, you're probably not in a situation where you have a lot of reserves built in."
But measures to cut expenses and improve cash flow in the short-term can hurt growth for a business in the long run, said David Gens, founder and CEO of Merchant Growth, which provides credit to thousands of small businesses.
He said fear and uncertainty around tariffs seem to be causing a defensive stance among business owners his company deals with.
Looking at the medium-term, Gens said businesses may need to look at finding new customers in other locations and retooling their supply chain.
"All of that takes investment and a lot of effort," he said.