According to a new Statistics Canada analysis, the Canadian economy is still recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.
In September, 91,100 individuals were added to payrolls across Canada, marking the fourth consecutive monthly rise.
In eight provinces, payroll employment grew. With nearly 43,000 new employees added to payrolls, Ontario led the way. The province of British Columbia (BC) came in second, followed by Quebec.
Nationally, job growth was led by the services industry, including lodging and food services, public administration, and finance and insurance.
According to Statistics Canada, the reopening of the Canada-US border in August and the relaxation of tourist travel restrictions in September may have contributed to job growth in tourism and allied sectors.
Job shortages are still an issue. At the beginning of September, there were over 1 million job openings. There were approximately 200,000 vacancies in the lodging and food sector, with a 14.4 percent job vacancy rate. The job vacancy rate calculates the percentage of vacant positions as a percentage of all vacant and occupied roles.
More than half of lodging and food service businesses expect to have difficulties in finding qualified workers. Only 30% of all other businesses express comparable concerns.
In September, there were over 130,000 vacancies in health care and social support, roughly doubling the entire number of vacancies in the third quarter of 2019.
In September, there were roughly 122,000 vacancies in the retail trade.
Meanwhile, the construction and manufacturing sectors each had over 80,000 open vacancies.
According to Statistics Canada, an increase in job openings may indicate an increase in economic activity and hiring as firms create new roles. It could also indicate deteriorating fundamental labor market imbalances, such as skill shortages and regional mismatches between vacancies and employees qualified to fill them. It may also indicate a shift in workers’ willingness to accept lower income, fewer hours, and other aspects linked with job openings.
