Canada’s private sector job vacancies rate reaches new heights while Saskatchewan vacancy rate decreased

The rate of job vacancies rose again in the year’s second quarter to 3.1 per cent, the highest vacancy rate ever observed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’S Help Wanted report since the series’ inception in 2004. An estimated 397,400 jobs have sat vacant for at least four months.

In Saskatchewan, the private sector job vacancy rate decreased again to 1.7 per cent representing 5,800 unfilled jobs.

“Although the national vacancy rate continues to climb, most of the increase is being driven by Quebec. Rates in BC and Ontario remain high, but have eased off a little from the previous quarter,” said Ted Mallett, CFIB’S chief economist. “The difficulty businesses in those provinces face in meeting their staffing needs is really the headwind of a strong and growing economy.”

Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador and Saskatchewan’s labour markets continued to trail the rest of the country, with drops in all three provinces.

The personal services sector experienced the highest vacancy rate at 4.8 per cent, followed by construction at 3.8 per cent and transportation at 3.4 per cent.

For information on the overall results by province and industry visit the full report at https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/research/ help-wanted-private-sector-job-vacancies-q2-2018