Job vacancies show growing labour shortage: CFIB

Job vacancies reached a new high in Q4 2017, totalling 399,000 jobs left unfilled in Canada’s private sector, according to a CFIB report.

The job vacancy rate—the proportion of unfilled jobs relative to all available jobs in the private sector—reached 3%, compared to 2.4% for Q4 2016.

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“Labour shortages are a growing problem. This is the second consecutive quarter in which the job vacancy rate has surpassed the high recorded at the beginning of 2008, before the recession,” said Ted Mallett, vice-president and chief economist at CFIB, in a release.

Results by province

British Columbia, which already had the tightest labour market, experienced the largest jump (+ 0.3 points) of all the provinces, with a vacancy rate of 3.9% in Q4 2017. Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Alberta and Manitoba saw a more modest 0.1 point increase.

Provinces	Vacancy rate	Unfilled jobs
British Columbia	3.9%	69,500
Quebec	3.4%	94,700
Ontario	3.2%	164,000
New Brunswick	2.7%	6,300
Alberta	2.4%	37,600
Manitoba	2.3%	9,900
Saskatchewan	2.3%	7,700
Nova Scotia	2.0%	6,000
Newfoundland and Labrador	1.8%	2,800
Prince Edward Island	1.6%	700

Job vacancies by industry

The job vacancy rate rose in eight out of 14 industry sectors in Q4 2017, with the most significant increases occurring in the personal services, information, arts/recreation and retail sectors.

Read: Growth in part-time work behind February jobs gains

Labour shortages continue to put upward pressure on wages, with companies having unfilled jobs expecting to offer an average wage increase that is 0.5% higher than those businesses without such vacancies, finds the report.

Read the report here.