Canadian job vacancies in last quarter of 2017 increased by 25%

In the last 3 months of 2017 Canada has seen increase in job vacancies by 25% as compared to the last 3 months of 2016.

The vacancies have gone up in 9 provinces out of 13 provinces and territories in Canada, seeing the largest openings posted in the province of British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario.

The total number of job vacancies in Canada as seen in the last 3 months of 2017 is 4, 70,000 i.e. a increase of 23 per cent or 89,000 jobs increased as compared to the last three months of 2016.

Statistics Canada says nearly seven out of every 10 job vacancies were for full-time work and the average offered hourly wage for the vacant jobs was $20.10.

YEAR-OVER-YEAR JOB VACANCY INCREASES BY PROVINCE FOR Q4 2017

The province of Quebec saw 29,185 more jobs in last quarter of 2017 as compared to the last quarter of 2016 an increase of 46 per cent, by far the largest. The vacancies in the most French-speaking province are very important in the manufacturing, accommodation and food services and finance and insurance industrial sectors.

The province of Ontario saw 28,085 more job vacancies in the last quarter of 2017 compared to the last quarter of 2016, with an increase of 17.3 per cent.The vacancies rose in 15 of 20 industrial sectors, including health care and social services and accommodation and food services.

The province British Columbia’s West Coast region saw an increase of 15,485 job vacancies in the last quarter of 2017, a year-over-year quarterly increase of 21.2 per cent. The greatest increases in B.C. occurred in accommodation and food services and construction.

The province of Alberta also saw an increase of 8,890 job vacancies in the last quarter of 2017, a jump of 20.9 per cent in comparison to 2016, and lastly the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island, Canada’s least populous province, saw a rise in job vacancies by 285, or 27 per cent, compared to the last quarter of 2016.

Not only this, the job vacancies have increased in eight of Canada’s 10 largest industrial sectors.

There were 29,100 job vacancies in last quarter of 2017 in the professional, scientific and technical services sector, an increase of 6,230 in comparison to the last quarter of 2016.

Job vacancies in accommodation and food services were up by 12,000, or 25 per cent, in comparison to 2016, the increase was strongly in the provinces of Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario.

                                                                JOB VACANCIES BY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

Job vacancies increased in eight of the 10 largest industrial sectors in the fourth quarter of 2017. Source: Statistics Canada

Employers in manufacturing industry saw an increase of 11,000 job vacancies, or 39 per cent, over the same quarter over the year 2016.The job vacancies were up in most subsectors of the manufacturing industry, led by food manufacturing, fabricated metal product manufacturing, and transportation equipment manufacturing.

The number of job vacancies in health care and social assistance saw a rise by 8,800, or 23.4 per cent, in the fourth quarter of 2017, driven by remarkable increases in Ontario.

There were also 8,600 more job vacancies in transportation and warehousing in the last quarter of 2017 compared with year 2016, an increase of 43.5 per cent. Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta all experienced large year increases over year 2016.

Occupational categories

Sales and service occupations, occupational categories saw an increase of 33,000 job vacancies in the last quarter of 2017 as compared to 2016. The province of Quebec saw larger vacancies, followed by Ontario and British Columbia.

The natural and applied sciences occupational group had 31,115 job vacancies in the last quarter of 2017, an increase of 6,755 compared to the last three months of 2016.

                                     JOB VACANCIES BY OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY IN Q4 2016 AND 2017

Meanwhile, job vacancies in trades, transport and equipment operators saw a raise by 24,000, or 43.1 per cent, as compared to the year 2016. Job vacancies increased in related sectors like manufacturing, transportation and warehousing and construction. The province of British Columbia and Alberta saw the largest increase in vacancies in this occupational category.