Question Period Note: JOB VACANCY DATA FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2024

On September 17th, Statistics Canada released job vacancy data for the second quarter of 2024 from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS).

• There were 582,600 job vacancies among Canadian employers in the second quarter of 2024, down 9.2% (-59,000) from the first quarter of 2024.
• Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the job vacancy rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 3.3%, reflecting lower vacancies.
• There was an average of 2.4 unemployed persons per job vacancy in Canada in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 0.4 compared to the previous quarter. This increase is aligned with other data indicating a labour market that has continued to ease in the first half of 2024.
• A high number of job vacancies can potentially signal a strong labour demand and/or a mismatch between the unemployed and available jobs.

• Data collected in the JVWS are critical for the analysis of labour market tightness, in conjunction with data from the Labour Force Survey.
• The job vacancy rate refers to the share of jobs that are unfilled out of all available payroll jobs. It represents the number of job vacancies expressed as a percentage of labour demand; that is, the sum of all occupied and vacant jobs.
• In addition to the number of job vacancies for which employers are recruiting externally, the JVWS collects information on vacancies by occupation, the minimum level of education and work experience required, the wage or salary offered, whether the vacant positions are full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary or seasonal, and the duration of recruitment efforts.
• The JVWS questionnaire is distributed on a quarterly basis to about 100,000 business locations operating in Canada (out of a population of close to 1.2 million locations) that have at least two employees (excluding religious organizations, private households, international and extraterritorial public administrations, and government administrations).
• Statistics Canada will release the job vacancy data from the JVWS for the third quarter of 2024 on December 16, 2024.

Overall
• The number of job vacancies in the second quarter of 2024 was 9.2% lower than in the previous quarter.
• Compared to the record high number of job vacancies observed in the second quarter of 2022 (at 983,600), the number of job vacancies has fallen by 401,000 (-40.7%) to 582,600 in the second quarter of 2024, and just slightly above what was observed in 2019 and during the first quarter of 2020. Additionally, the job vacancy rate decreased to 3.3% in the second quarter of 2024, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2020 (3.3%). Finally, there was an average of 2.4 unemployed persons per job vacancy in Canada in the second quarter of 2024, surpassing what was observed in 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.
• Together, these indicators suggest a similar level of labour market tightness to that observed in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By occupation (data NOT adjusted for seasonality):
• Compared to the second quarter of 2023, job vacancies fell in 9 of the 10 broad occupational groups. The largest decline was observed among sales and service occupations (-32.2% or -88,000). Within this broad occupational group, food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations (-21,800 to 32,900), retail salespersons and visual merchandisers (-13,500 to 20,200) and other customer and information services representatives (-8,000 to 7,400) saw the largest year-over-year drops in vacancies.
• Compared to the second quarter of 2023, the number of job vacancies among trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations declined by 46,900 (-29.0%), led by transport truck drivers (-8,500 to 15,400).
• In the second quarter of 2024, job vacancies in health occupations fell moderately (-4.7% or -4,300 to 88,600) on a year-over-year basis. This decrease was led by key nursing occupations: registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (-1,900 to 27,700), nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (-1,700 to 18,000), and licensed practical nurses (-1,200 to 12,300).

By minimum level of education sought (data NOT adjusted for seasonality):
• On a year-over-year basis, there were fewer job vacancies for the four combined educational levels sought by employers in the second quarter. However, positions requiring a high school diploma or less drove the overall decline in vacancies, declining by 140,900 (-29.8%), and accounting for 71.5% of the overall year-over-year decline in job vacancies.

By province (data adjusted for seasonality):
• Between the first and second quarters of 2024, job vacancies fell in six provinces and one territory - Quebec (-16.3% to 126,100), Prince Edward Island (-13.8% to 2,500), Ontario (-9.7% to 204,400), Alberta (-6.5% to 71,400), Saskatchewan (-6.3% to 20,200), British Columbia (-4.6% to 100,200), and Yukon (-16.1% to 1,000).
• The number of vacancies was little changed in the remaining provinces and territories.

Unemployed people per vacancy (data adjusted for seasonality):
• In the second quarter of 2024, there were 2.4 unemployed people per job vacancy, an increase compared to 2.0 in the previous quarter and the record low of 1.1 in the second quarter of 2022.
• Comparing unemployment and job vacancies can give an indication of how easily unemployed workers find jobs and if workforce skills are in line with those required by employers. A low unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio can indicate that it may be relatively harder for employers to find workers.

Offered hourly wages (data NOT adjusted for seasonality):
• Between the second quarters of 2023 and 2024, the average offered hourly wage grew 6.8% to $26.80. In comparison, year-over-year average hourly wages of all employees (as measured in the Labour Force Survey) grew 5.1% in the second quarter.
• Year-over-year, the average offered hourly wage grew at a faster pace for part-time positions (+7.7% to $22.50) than for full-time positions (+6.6% to $28.20).