Canada still has over one million job vacancies: Report
_Vinayak Barot
Ahmedabad: A dream country for the Indian people to settle and study, Canada may get more applications from India for permanent residency (PR) and Citizenship as latest Statistics Canada has released a report that says Canada still has over one million job vacancies.
According to the survey, the job vacancy rate in the health care and social services sectors has risen sharply to 143,000 vacancies or 6.1%. This is a significant increase over the vacancy rate in April, which was 5.4% and 20% higher than it was in May 2021.
Both Nova Scotia and Manitoba had job vacancy rates of over 10% in May, largely within the accommodation and food services sector which reported 161,000 job vacancies. This is the thirteenth month in a row accommodation and food services have had the highest number of vacancies.
There are over one million vacant jobs in Canada. This is consistent with data from April but up by over 300,000 vacant positions since May 2021. The high job vacancy rate, combined with the low unemployment rate outlined by the Labour Force Survey for May 2022, points to a growing labor shortage in several sectors and an increased need for immigration in Canada as its workforce reaches retirement age. Canada is currently planning to invite its highest ever number of permanent residents in 2022 with a target of over 430,000. The target will continue to rise to over 450,000 in 2024.
Despite the loss of jobs, the biggest increase in weekly earnings for May occurred in retail trade, which is up 9.3% over the same period in 2021. Wages for professional, scientific, and technical services are up 8.1%. In comparison, the biggest decrease in average weekly earnings was in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industries which saw a decline of 9.7%.
The average weekly earnings for employees is up 2.5% from the April report. This is likely a result of increased wages or changes to employment for workers. The report found that the higher average is not due to an increase in hours worked, which remained the same as April at 1.5% above pre-covid levels.
This data also shows a continuation of the overall trend toward year-over-year increases. In May, New Brunswick reported the largest increase when compared to May 2021, climbing to 7.4%. This was closely followed by Newfoundland and Labrador at 5.9%. Seven other provinces also saw year-over-year increases in average wages.
Ontario also reported the country’s largest decrease in employment in the retail trade sector. This marks the second month in a row of a decrease in payroll employees in retail trade professions. However, the overall current rate of employment in retail trade is still six percent higher than it was in May 2021. In contrast, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland, and Labrador all reported increases in retail trade employment.
The only sector that showed growth in each province was the professional, scientific, and technical services sector, which saw a gain of over 10,000 jobs, mainly in tech occupations such as computer systems design and related services.
