Canada for March 2015 – 5.9 Unemployed people for every job vacancy

Canadian businesses reported 232,000 job vacancies in March, up 23,000 compared with 12 months earlier. For every job vacancy, there were 5.9 unemployed people, down from 6.7 in March 2014. This decline in the ratio was the result of both fewer unemployed people and more job vacancies.

Unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio declines in four provinces

In Quebec, there were 6.6 unemployed people for every job vacancy, down from 10.0 in March 2014, as the number of unemployed people fell and the number of job vacancies increased.

Chart 1 Unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio, all unemployed, by province, three-month average, March 2014 and March 2015

The unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio in Ontario fell from 8.7 to 6.6 in the 12 months to March, the result of more job vacancies and fewer unemployed people in the province. In British Columbia, the ratio declined from 5.3 to 4.1 over the same period, as there were more job vacancies in the province.

The ratio in Prince Edward Island fell from 20.8 to 11.7 in the 12 months to March. The decline was due to more job vacancies in the province (see “Data quality” in the note to readers).

In Manitoba, the unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio rose from 3.2 in March 2014 to 4.9 in March 2015, as the number of job vacancies declined in the province. Conversely, in Alberta, the ratio increased from 2.4 to 3.8 over the same period, the result of more unemployed people and fewer job vacancies.

In the remaining provinces, the unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio was little changed compared with a year earlier.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at The Daily — Job vacancies, three-month average ending in March 2015.