Labour market sees signs of easing: StatsCan

Labour demand growth is slowing and the number of unfilled jobs is declining, indicating an easing in the tight Canadian labour market, according to Statistics Canada.

The national statistical agency reported the number of job vacancies continued to ease in the first quarter, declining by 33,500 to 843,200, which represented the third straight quarterly decline. The job vacancy rate also fell by 0.2 percentage points in the first quarter.

Overall labour demand — which represents the number of filled and vacant positions — grew at a 0.3% rate in the first quarter, down from 1.0% in the same quarter last year, StatsCan said.

While vacancies eased, total payroll employment continued to rise. Employment increased for the eighth straight quarter, rising by 89,200 (0.5%) in the first quarter, it noted.

The agency also reported that the number of employed workers per open job increased to 1.3 in the first quarter, up from 1.2 in the previous quarter. That’s also up from 1.1 in the second and third quarters last year.

The increase in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio is another sign that the tightness in the labour market is easing a bit — although the ratio remains well below its pre-pandemic level of 2.4 unemployed workers per open job, StatsCan said.

Additionally, the growth in average hourly wages offered slowed in the first quarter. The average hourly wage offered rose by 5.0% in the first quarter, StatsCan said, down from 8.5% in the previous quarter.

Adjusting for the composition of job vacancies by occupation, offered hourly wage growth was 3.5% in the first quarter, down from 5.9% in the previous quarter.

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