Job vacancies jump past 1m in Canada’s tight labour market

Bloomberg

Unfilled jobs surpassed one million in Canada, a sign that employers are having difficulty finding workers as they ramp up hiring.
There were 1,014,600 job vacancies in September, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. That represents about 6% of all jobs, a vacancy rate that’s up from as low as 3% last December. Employers in high-contact industries like food services and hotels had the highest proportion of unfilled positions, at 14.4%.
The report suggests labour shortages are growing as
employers ramp up hiring in a
recovering economy.
There are now 0.8 vacancies for every job seeker in the country, according to data compiled by Mikal Skuterud, a professor of labour economics at the University of Waterloo. That’s the highest proportion in data back to 2015 and twice the average of 0.4 over that period.
Still, Canada continues to lag the US, which has 1.4 job vacancies for every searcher, Skuterud said by email.
Earnings were up 2.6% in September from a year ago, according to the Statistics Canada report. The agency is set to release its November labour-force survey on December 3.
Canadian firms expect fastest wage growth
Canada’s small businesses are expecting wages to rise at the fastest pace in over a decade. Businesses see employee compensation rising by 3.1% over the next year, according to a November survey of members by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. That’s the highest level in data that goes back to 2009. The historical average is 1.6%.
Canadian firms are feeling the pressure to raise pay after inflation surged and the labour market tightens.