There were 883,200 job vacancies across all sectors of the Canadian economy in the first quarter of 2023.
Statistics Canada notes the growth in job vacancies was led by openings in the transportation and warehousing, and healthcare and social assistance sectors.
Transportation and warehousing jobs grew by 14,500 positions during the first month of the year and positions in healthcare and social assistance by 12,400. The overall growth in job vacancies across the country was 29,000 positions, reports the statistical and demographic services agency. Despite the rise in the number of jobs going begging for a lack of qualified workers to fill them, the job vacancy rate itself did not budge in January, remaining at 4.9 per cent, because the overall labour force also grew as more people landed paying gigs.
“Overall payroll employment has generally trended upwards over the previous five months, resulting in cumulative gains of 275,400 jobs filled, up 1.6 per cent from September 2022 to January 2023,” notes Statistics Canada.
The Canadian labour market remains very tight with unemployment holding steady at five percent, reveals the latest Labour Force Survey.
With that increase in job vacancies in healthcare and social assistance, there are now 162,100 jobs going begging for a want of workers in that sector, the highest level on record.
There were also 49,600 job vacancies in the transportation and warehousing sector, 53,900 in the administrative and support, waste management and remediation services sector, 15,700 in the information and cultural industries, and 12,300 in the real estate and rental and leasing sector.
While the number of job vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical services sector slid 10.9 per cent in January, it still offered 50,700 positions.
The manufacturing and educational services sectors were in a similar situation in January. While job vacancies in manufacturing fell by 4,200, there were still 66,600 open positions. The educational services sector saw a drop of 3,800 job vacancies but there were still 22,900 openings in January 2023.
The provinces which showed the greatest tightening of their labour markets were the francophone province of Quebec and the Atlantic Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Due to labour shortages, workers are managing to negotiate higher wages from their employers. In the past year, average wages have risen 2.9 per cent to hit $1,185.39 per week.
Foreign nationals hoping to gain their permanent residency in Canada can seize the opportunities offered by this tight labour market to immigrate through the country’s many economic immigration programs.
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Credit: Immigration.ca