The figure continues to trend downwards
Canadian job vacancies declined by 43,100 (representing a 5.8% drop) to 701,300 in July, continuing a steady downward trend since June 2022, according to the national statistics agency.
July’s job vacancies level was the lowest since May 2021 (673,400), Statistics Canada reported. On an annual basis, job vacancies fell by 273,700 (down by 28.1%) nationwide.
“The job vacancy rate – which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand (the sum of filled and unfilled positions) – decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.9% in July, a rate not seen since February 2021,” StatCan added.
“On a year-over-year basis, the job vacancy rate was down by 1.6%, resulting from declines in vacancies (-273,700; -28.1%) combined with gains in payroll employment (+446,600; +2.7%).”
StatCan reported that the number of vacancies fell most noticeably in the retail trade (-10,800; -12.8%), accommodation and food services (-10,400; -11.6%), educational services (-4,500; -18.6%), management of companies and enterprises (-1,600; -42.3%), and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (-1,600; -16.9%) sectors.
Keith Lancastle, interim CEO of the Appraisal Institute of Canada, noted that while the Canadian economy has slowed down recently, a severe #housingmarket crash is unlikely due to robust employment figures.
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Which provinces saw the greatest decline in job vacancies?
On a monthly basis, job vacancies fell in four provinces in July, spearheaded by Ontario (-27,700 to 242,600). Significant drops in vacancies were also registered in Saskatchewan (-4,100 to 22,200), New Brunswick (-2,500 to 11,500), and Prince Edward Island (-1,000 to 2,900), while all other provinces saw little monthly change in the number of vacancies.
Taking year-over-year changes into account, job vacancies decreased in seven provinces in July, once again led by Ontario (-123,900; -33.8%). Other regions with marked annual drops were Quebec (-65,800; -26.6%) and British Columbia (-38,400; -26.0%), while Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan exhibited only minimal changes.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist and director of economics at BMO Capital Markets, said that these figures represent more evidence that the Canadian jobs market is softening, “albeit from extreme levels.”
“It’s still premature for this to feed into wages and, therefore, inflation, so the Bank of Canada will remain on high alert,” Kavcic said. “But it does suggest that the bank might be able to keep leaning on the economy and inflation with rates at current levels.”
