Job vacancies and job vacancy rate continue to fall in Q1: Statistics Canada

A report released Tuesday by Statistics Canada said the number of job vacancies decreased by 33,500 (-3.8 per cent) in the first quarter, falling to 843,200 and marking the third straight quarterly decline from the record high reached in the second quarter of 2022 (984,600).

Christina Morillo

Meanwhile, payroll employment increased by 89,200 (+0.5 per cent) in the first quarter of 2023, the eighth consecutive quarterly increase. The quarter-over-quarter growth rate in total labour demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions) was 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, down from 1.0f per cent in the first quarter of 2022, said the federal agency.

“The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—fell by 0.2 percentage points to 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. This was the third consecutive decrease and the lowest rate since the second quarter of 2021 (4.3 per cent),” it said.

“There was an average of 1.3 unemployed persons for each job vacancy in Canada in the first quarter, up from 1.2 in the previous quarter and from 1.1 in the second and the third quarters of 2022. This slight increase in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio is due to the downward trend of job vacancies over the last quarters, as the number of unemployed persons (measured in the Labour Force Survey) has remained relatively stable since October 2022. This indicates that while the labour market tightness continued in the first quarter of 2023, there are signs of a gradual easing in its severity. In comparison, the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio was sitting at 2.4 in the first quarter of 2020.”

“In the first quarter, job vacancies decreased in three provinces: Ontario (-25,100 to 298,800), British Columbia (-7,200 to 126,300) and Alberta (-4,300 to 93,300). Meanwhile, the number of vacancies increased in Manitoba (+2,200 to 28,300) and was little changed in the remaining provinces and in the territories,” added the federal agency.

“At the regional level, job vacancies fell in 10 of 69 economic regions in the first quarter, led by Toronto, Ontario (-18,000 to 136,300); Lower Mainland–Southwest, British Columbia (-5,000 to 74,400); and Ottawa, Ontario (-3,500 to 28,400). In the first quarter, the number of unfilled positions rose slightly in four economic regions, with the largest increases recorded in Winnipeg, Manitoba (+2,600 to 18,800) and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec (+900 to 5,900). Meanwhile, job vacancies were little changed in the remaining 55 economic regions.

“Since the second quarter of 2022, when the overall number of job vacancies reached a record high in Canada, job vacancies have decreased in 33 economic regions. Proportionally, the economic regions of Outaouais, Quebec (-32.4 per cent to 5,600 in the first quarter of 2023); Ottawa, Ontario (-31.5 per cent to 28,400); Lower Mainland–Southwest, British Columbia (-29.3 per cent to 74,400); and Banff–Jasper–Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca–Grand Prairie–Peace River, Alberta (-28.8f per cent to 9,500) recorded the largest declines in vacancies since the second quarter of 2022.”

Mario Toneguzzi

(Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)