Canadian job vacancies down more than 44,000 in October 2022

On December 22, Statistics Canada released its latest monthly report on payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies for October 2022.

The section of this report that addresses national job vacancies revealed that Canada hit a 15-month low in total job vacancies in October.

Total job vacancies down to 871,300 across Canada

Job vacancies in Canada are down 4.8% in the last month (between September and October 2022), down 44,300 to 871,300.

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This October figure marks the fourth straight month that Canada has reported vacancies under one million, this coming after hitting a record high in May 2022 (1,001,800) and experiencing more than one million job vacancies in June as well.

Accordingly, Canada’s job vacancy rate for October was the country’s lowest mark since June 2021 — coming in at 4.9%.

Note: Canada’s job vacancy rate is calculated by finding the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand across the country (filled plus vacant job positions).

Four sectors see job vacancies drop by more than 14.5%

Four separate industries across Canada saw job vacancies go down by at least 14% compared to September 2022. “Other services” saw a 14.6% decline in job vacancies (-5,600), while the “administrative and support, waste management and remediation services” industry saw a drop of 11,000 (-19.9%).

Two industries experienced job vacancy decreases of over 20%, including the construction sector, where total job vacancies were down 20.4% from September (-17,200 to 67,400). Finally, in the “agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting” sector, total vacancies dropped by 3,500 (-27.7%).

Four other sectors report insignificant changes in their job vacancy numbers since September

Four Canadian industries experienced minor shifts in their month-over-month job vacancy numbers (September to October 2022). In October, these industries recorded the following totals with respect to job vacancies:

Accommodation and Food Services: 120,600

Retail Trade: 94,600

Manufacturing: 72,500

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: 63,300

More than 150,000 job vacancies reported in the healthcare and social assistance industry

The healthcare and social assistance industry continued to see Canada’s highest number of job vacancies for any single sector in October 2022, coming in at 151,200 for the month.

The year-over-year job vacancy rate in this industry rose almost a full percentage point (+0.9%) to 6.3%, as this sector continues to experience notable struggles with filling available employment opportunities.

Five provinces see job vacancies shift by 9% or more

Job vacancies moved in a positive direction between September and October 2022 for four provinces. In Ontario, total vacancies dropped by 36,700 (-9.8%). Meanwhile, job vacancies dropped by upwards of 10% in Quebec (10.6%, vacancies down 25,900), Saskatchewan (12%) — where vacancies decreased by 3,200 — and British Columbia (vacancies down 23,500, 14.8%).

Unfortunately, job vacancies did increase in one Canadian province, as 1,900 more employment opportunities became vacant in Newfoundland and Labrador over the month leading up to October 2022 (an increase of 29.4%).

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