- The number of job vacancies and the job vacancy rate were both up in the fourth quarter, the ninth consecutive year-over-year increase.
- Job vacancies and the job vacancy rate rose in every province year over year except for Saskatchewan in the fourth quarter.
- The majority of economic regions recorded job vacancy growth.
- Job vacancies increased in the 10 largest industrial sectors.
The proportion of jobs vacant for 90 days or more rose 1.9 percentage points to 12.6%.
The number of job vacancies increased by 78,000 (+16.6%) from the fourth quarter of 2017 to 548,000 in the fourth quarter. At the same time, the job vacancy rate was up 0.4 percentage points to 3.3%, the third successive quarter above 3.0%. This was also the ninth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year increase in both the number of job vacancies and the job vacancy rate.
The job vacancy rate represents the number of job vacancies expressed as a percentage of labour demand—that is, the sum of all occupied and vacant jobs.
The number of job vacancies in Canada (unadjusted for seasonality) was little changed from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2018. Similarly, vacancies were also little changed from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2017, while they declined from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2016.
Chart 1
The last three quarters of 2018 post the highest number of job vacancies since the beginning of the series in 2015, unadjusted for seasonality
Job vacancies increase in every province except Saskatchewan
On a year-over-year basis, both the number of job vacancies and the job vacancy rate in the fourth quarter increased in nine provinces. The provinces with the largest increase in the number of job vacancies were Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. Saskatchewan was the lone province where the number of job vacancies and the job vacancy rate decreased. Job vacancies and the job vacancy rate also rose in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, while they were little changed in Nunavut.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at The Daily — Job vacancies, fourth quarter 2018
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