According to Statistics Canada, employers in Canada were actively seeking to fill 959,600 vacant positions in the third quarter of 2022. Although this is lower than the figures in the 2nd quarter, the number of job vacancies remained elevated which is 8.3% higher than in the third quarter of 2021 and 72.7% higher than in the first quarter of 2022.
The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions)—was 5.4% in the third quarter of 2022, down from 5.7% in the second quarter. It was up from 3.3% in the first quarter of 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics Canada said there was an average of 1.1 unemployed persons for each job vacancy in Canada in the third quarter of 2022, similar to the record low reached in the second quarter. In comparison, there was an average of 2.3 unemployed persons for each job vacancy in the first quarter of 2020. The unemployment to job vacancy ratio has declined steadily since the first quarter of 2016, along with the increase in the job vacancy rate.
British Columbia and Quebec continued to have the highest job vacancy rates among the provinces in the third quarter, as has been the case since the second quarter of 2019. Newfoundland and Labrador remained the province with the lowest job vacancy rate in the third quarter. Quebec and British Columbia also continued to have the lowest unemployment-to-job vacancy ratios of all provinces, while Newfoundland and Labrador continued to have the highest ratio.
In professional, scientific and technical services, job vacancies declined 15.4% from the record high reached in the second quarter to 63,100 in the third quarter. This was the first decline in the sector since the fourth quarter of 2020.
There were 140,000 job vacancies in accommodation and food services in the third quarter, which was highest among all sectors even with a 6.5% decline in that quarter.
In manufacturing, job vacancies declined 8.7% to 78,500 in the third quarter. This was the first decrease in this sector since the third quarter of 2019.
In construction, there were 81,100 vacant positions in the third quarter, virtually unchanged from the record high of the previous quarter. Vacancies for electricians, carpenters and construction trades helpers and labourers rose from the third quarter of 2021.
Job vacancies in healthcare and social assistance increased to an all-time high of 150,100 in the third quarter. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, job vacancies rose in the third quarter for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses; nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates; and licensed practical nurses. Together, these occupations made up the majority (69.2%) of all vacancies in health occupations in the third quarter.
For a given job vacancy rate, a higher proportion of long-term vacancies (vacancies for which recruitment efforts have been ongoing for 90 days or more) indicate greater difficulties for employers to fill positions. From the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2022, the proportion of long-term job vacancies rose from 28.5% to 38.4% (not seasonally adjusted).
The proportion of long-term job vacancies increases since the first quarter of 2021
Among health occupations, almost half (49.9%) of all job vacancies had remained unfilled for 90 days or more, the largest proportion of any broad occupational group.
Faced with a tight labour market and hiring difficulties, some employers respond by raising the offered wages of their vacancies. Broad occupations with notably higher than the average increases in offered wages included middle management occupations in trades, transportation, production and utilities; assisting occupations in support of health services; assemblers in manufacturing; and processing and manufacturing machine operators and related production workers.