Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario had the highest job vacancy rates among Canada's provinces
Canada’s private sector job vacancy rate reached another record in the first three months of 2019 with the highest number of unfilled jobs reported in Quebec, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says in a new update.
“The national vacancy rate has been steadily climbing for the past two years and it reached another record high last quarter,” said Ted Mallet, vice-president and chief economist of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
The CFIB says labour shortages affected skilled positions more than semi- or unskilled occupations.
The shortages were also putting “strong pressure” on wage levels, with employers who had at least one vacant position saying they expected to raise wages.
Canada’s construction industry faced a vacancy rate of 4.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, followed by personal services at 4.7 per cent.
Businesses in agriculture had a job vacancy rate of 3.8 per cent and the hospitality sector had a rate of 3.7 per cent.
Canada saw a record 106,500 jobs added in April and another 27,700 jobs added in May, and unemployment in the country is at its lowest point in more than 40 years.
