Job vacancies remain at historic highs in Canada

Canada’s private sector is continuing to experience historically high job vacancies.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business latest Help Wanted Report shows that roughly 433,000 private-sector jobs went unfulfilled this past quarter, which is about 1,500 more than the second quarter this year, and 15,000 more than this time last year.

Quebec, once again, had the tightest labour market in the country at a 4 per cent vacancy rate. British Columbia also held its position, maintaining an above-average vacancy rate of 3.8 per cent. Ontario remained at the national average of 3.2 per cent.

Vacancy rates in the Prairies and in Newfoundland and Labrador went up slightly, though they still remain under the national average.

Canada’s other provinces did not see any changes between the second and third quarter of 2019.

Industries with a lot of small-sized companies were shown to have higher vacancy rates compared to big-business sectors.

This trend saw vacancy rates rising in agriculture, information technology and hospitality but declining in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors.

The personal services industry, which represents businesses like hairdressers, dry cleaners and funeral services, maintained the highest vacancy rate at 4.9 per cent between July and October 2019. The construction industry came in second with a 4.7 per cent vacancy rate. Hospitality (4.0 per cent), agriculture (3.7 per cent) and information technology (2.4 per cent) all saw significant vacancy rate increases in the third quarter. Meanwhile, steady declines in vacancy rates are being felt in industries such as transportation (3.4 per cent), manufacturing (2.8 per cent), wholesale (2.6 per cent) and retail (2.5 per cent). The natural resources sector had the lowest job vacancy rate at 1.8 per cent.

The most significant drivers of vacancies are future outlooks, growth intentions, business size, and firm-specific job characteristics, the CFIB (The Canadian Federation of Independent Business) says.