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

On June 18th, Statistics Canada released job vacancy data for the first quarter of 2024 from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS).

There were 648,600 job vacancies among Canadian employers in the first quarter of 2024, down 3.6% (-24,300) from the fourth quarter of 2023.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the job vacancy rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 3.6%, reflecting lower vacancies.

There was an average of 2.0 unemployed persons per job vacancy in Canada in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 0.2 compared to the previous quarter. This increase is aligned with other labour market data indicating a labour market that has continued to ease in the beginning of 2024.

Nevertheless, the number of job vacancies remained elevated when compared with the pre-pandemic level (an average of 542,560 in 2019). 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 second quarter of 2024 on September 17, 2024.

Overall

The number of job vacancies in the first quarter of 2024 was 3.6% 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 335,000 (-34.1%) to 648,600 in the first quarter of 2024. Despite this decline, the number of job vacancies remained high compared to its level before the COVID-19 pandemic (an average of 542,560 in 2019).

By occupation (data NOT adjusted for seasonality):

Compared to the first quarter of 2023, job vacancies fell in 8 of the 10 broad occupational groups. The largest decline was observed among sales and service occupations (-33.6% or -82,200). Within this broad occupational group, food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations (-22,635 to 26,720), retail salespersons and visual merchandisers (-11,585 to 15,955) and cooks (-5,970 to 12,505) saw the largest year-over-year drops in vacancies.

Compared to the first quarter of 2023, the number of job vacancies among trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations declined by 39,300 (-25.6%). This included declines in vacancies for transport truck drivers (-7,785 to 15,460).

In the first quarter of 2024, job vacancies in health occupations were little changed on a year-over-year basis. Despite the number of job vacancies overall holding steady, the three occupations with the largest annual increases in job vacancies were in the health sector - other technical occupations in therapy and assessment (+910 to 1,665), respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists (+785 to 1,475), and pharmacists (+775 to 2,145).

By province (data adjusted for seasonality):

Between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, job vacancies fell in six provinces - Manitoba (-8.7% to 22,400), New Brunswick (-8.1% to 11,200), Quebec (-6.4% to 153,000), Saskatchewan (-5.9% to 21,900), Alberta (-4.8% to 77,100) and British Columbia (-4.4% to 105,800).

The number of vacancies increased in the Northwest Territories (+24.8% to 1,400) and Prince Edward Island (+20.5% to 3,000),and was little changed in the remaining provinces.

Unemployed people per vacancy (data adjusted for seasonality):

In the first quarter of 2024, there were 2.0 unemployed people per job vacancy, an increase compared to 1.8 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):

In light of the relatively high number of job vacancies (compared to pre-pandemic) and high rate of inflation, the potential impact of unmet labour demand on offered hourly wages is being followed closely.

Between the first quarters of 2023 and 2024, the average offered hourly wage grew 7.3% to $27.25, driven partially by a shift in the composition of job vacancies towards higher-offered-wage occupations. In comparison, year-over-year average hourly wages of all employees (as measured in the Labour Force Survey) grew 5.1% in the first quarter.

Holding the composition of job vacancies by occupation fixed at the average of the first quarter of 2023, the year-over-year growth in offered hourly wages would have been 4.7%.