295,000 private-sector jobs unfilled in Q1

The percentage of unfilled private-sector jobs remained steady at 2.5% in the first quarter of 2013.

There are still approximately 295,000 full- and part-time jobs left open, however, despite the fact that little changed, reveals data compiled by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“As the economy has improved and unemployment has come down, companies, particularly smaller companies, have struggled to fill open jobs” says Ted Mallett, CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president.

Businesses with fewer than 19 employees had the highest vacancy rate (4.2%), while businesses with 500 or more employees had the lowest (1.6%). And recently, the federal government introduced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program that could make it even harder for smaller firms to find the staff they need.

Read: Canada’s workforce needs skills upgrade

“Smaller businesses structurally have higher vacancy rates,” adds Mallett. “The foreign worker program has been one way for these businesses to fill openings that they couldn’t otherwise.

“Ironically, it was problems at larger firms that prompted changes to the program, yet it is smaller companies with legitimate challenges that will bear the brunt of the impact.”

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By sector, Canada’s construction industry has the country’s highest vacancy rate (3.6%), although it’s dropping. Other sectors seeing declines in Q1 are:

• Oil and gas (2.4%)
• Information arts and recreation (2.2%)
• Retail (2%)
• Hospitality (2.6%)

The highest numbers of actual jobs available are in these lagging sectors. Each sector has 30,000-40,000 openings across the country.

Read: Small business hiring lags

At the same time, agriculture, transportation, and social services have all seen modest increases of more than 2%.

The CFIB defines vacant positions as those that have been empty for at least four months.

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Staff

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