Statistics Canada says job vacancies down in October, lowest level since August 2021

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the number job vacancies fell by 4.8 per cent in October to their lowest level since August 2021.

The agency says the number of job vacancies fell by 44,300 to 871,300 in October.

The month-over-month drop came as vacancies in the construction sector fell 17,200 or 20.4 per cent and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services dropped 11,000 or 19.9 per cent.

Statistics Canada says no sector recorded a statistically significant increase in its number of unfilled positions, although vacancies remained near record levels in health care and social assistance.

The overall job vacancy rate — the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — was 4.9 per cent in October, the lowest since June 2021.

There were 1.2 unemployed people for every job vacancy in October, up from the low of 1.0 in June, but down from 2.0 in February 2020, before the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2022.