HALIFAX -- The Canadian economy has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it may come as a surprise to learn there are jobs available.

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, conducts research in the area of food distribution, security, and safety.

He says employment opportunities are expanding in some sectors amid the pandemic.

“There's a need for people in retail, in processing, in logistics, everywhere,” he says.

According to Charlebois, the COVID-19 crisis has dramatically changed the way people shop.

“We're dealing with a different consumer,” he says.

“Lots of people don't want to show up at the store, so you need to build a different structure around e-commerce.”

A shift to online orders would mean dedicating employees to fill orders and deliver them to customers’ homes.

Cleaning protocols have also changed and more people are needed to sanitize stores during overnight hours.

“I would suspect Sobeys, Loblaws and Metro, they're all hiring right now,” says Charlebois.

These are job opportunities at a time when unemployment is rising in other sectors.

“Walmart is hiring 10,000 people the next little while in Canada,” say Charlebois.

Megan Cook is a single mother in need of a job.

When she learned Loblaws was hiring, she applied in the hopes of being hired on at the Atlantic Superstore.

The phone rang almost immediately.

“I got the call from the recruitment,” says Cook.

As this workforce continues to expand, she hopes she will be able to land a new job.

“I'm a little nervous,” she admits.

Meanwhile, Charlebois notes that recent wage increases in jobs at grocery stores means more people are likely to find those jobs attractive, especially at a time when many are being laid off and the workforce in that sector is expanding.