Saskatchewan and Ontario Added 400,000 New Jobs, but Vacancies Still Remain High
In Canada, there were 994,800 open opportunities in September, an increase of 3.8% across all industries. Most of these new jobs were added in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
The job vacancy rate, which measures the total number of open positions in relation to labor demand, grew to 5.7%, suggesting that there is still a need to fill positions due to a lack of qualified candidates.
Even after taking into consideration these seasonal characteristics, there are still a lot of jobs available in Canada in September.
Which industries had the most open positions?
Statistics Canada counts a position as unfilled if:
- there is a specific position open right now,
- work could begin in the next 30 days,
- and the company is particularly searching for candidates from outside the company.
In this situation, there are still a lot of open positions in some economic areas.
Social assistance and healthcare
In September, there were 159,500 open posts in the social assistance and healthcare sectors, up from a record-high figure in August.
Due to the ongoing high requirement for specialists in this field (such as physicians, nurses, doctors, surgeons, etc.) in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry saw an increase in job openings of 25% year over year.
In an effort to alleviate a labor shortfall, Canada has made steps to persuade more experts in this area to immigrate to the nation, even removing obstacles to permanent residence (PR) for specialists in this sector.
Food and lodging services
The number of open positions in the sector of lodging and food services, which is always looking for workers, increased by 12% to 152,400 in September.
While a large portion of this exponential rise can be credited to seasonal influences, the industry has seen growth in hiring and employment, with hopeful prospects for the future as openings and jobs in the sector have stayed high throughout the year.
Retail Trade
With 117,300 open positions in September, there was a modest increase in job openings in the retail sector. The job vacancy rate was 5.5%, which is in line with the national average for all industries and a reliable sign that there will always be a need for people in this field.
Professional Services in Science and Technology
Professional scientific and technical services is another industry with a steady demand for labor. This broad sector includes legal services, accountancy, architecture and engineering, management consulting, computer systems design, advertising, public relations, and more.
The September data showed 61,900 open positions, which is indicative of this. The industry’s job vacancy rate of 5%, which once again equals the national average, is a strong sign of continuous demand and recruiting initiatives in the region in the months to come.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing was the only sector to consistently experience a decrease in job openings; from a peak of 92,100 openings in August, there were only 76,000 openings in September.
Although this could be interpreted as an indication of increased hiring in the industry, the reduction in job openings follows the fourth decline in Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP) during the previous five months. The worth of all products and services within a sector is reflected by the real gross domestic product (RGDP), an inflation-adjusted metric.
A remark about wage rises
The number of employees on the payroll is those who receive compensation or benefits from their employer.
Payroll employment is typically regarded as a lone indicator of the health of a company, industry, or even economy. While increases in these numbers may be caused by a variety of variables (such as filling previously vacated positions), they can also be attributed to a number of other factors.
In September, payroll employment climbed across the board by 0.5%, with British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta posting the highest rises.
There are a record amount of open positions in Canada.
Immigration is still at the center of efforts to address the nation’s labor shortages.
As a growing number of the country’s elderly population enters retirement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canadian government continue to take action to address an impending labor shortfall.
As demonstrated by the increase in economic immigration routes like Express Entry and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), as well as an aggressive immigration plan to invite close to 500,000 newcomers to Canada every year, Canada will take a glance to address labor shortages through the immigration of skilled foreign workers.
