Work in Canada
As Job Vacancies Remain High, Average Hourly Wages in Canada Increase
Statistics Canada’s job vacancy report for the third quarter of 2022 illustrates a pattern that has persisted throughout the year. Employers in Canada are still struggling to find qualified workers to fill over one million 959,600 open positions.
Increase in Average Wages
Many firms have looked to raise the offered compensation for open positions as a result of the tight labour market and greater difficulties in hiring. The average hourly wage offered climbed by 7.5% to $24.20 per hour from the same quarter a year earlier. Even more than the national average offered to pay increased for some in-demand job categories. The list includes;
- Middle workers in trades, transportation, production, and utilities saw an increase in wages of 10.8% to $41.40 an hour;
- Assistants in health services projected an increase of 10.7% to $22.45 an hour;
- Assemblers in manufacturing increased from 10.4% to 20.05 an hour;
- Processing and manufacturing operators and production workers saw an increase of 10.2% to $20.02 an hour
Healthcare and Social Assistance Sector Reached a High Job Vacancy Record
The number of open positions in Canada’s healthcare and social assistance sectors is particularly noteworthy. In the third quarter of 2022, there were more than 150,100 open job vacancies. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a persistent need for more healthcare professionals. In response, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has removed restrictions on physicians obtaining permanent residence and invested millions to streamline the accreditation of healthcare professionals with foreign education.
Other sectors with a significant number of openings were:
- Accommodation and food services, with 140,000 job vacancies;
- Construction sector which saw 81,000 vacant positions; and
- Professional scientific and technical services with 63,100 job vacancies.
Provinces with the Most Job Vacancies in Canada
In Q3, certain provinces experienced greater growth in the number of open positions than others, despite high job vacancies across the country. Where Manitoba and Saskatchewan both saw an increase in job vacancies of 10.7% and 7.5% respectively. The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia all saw a decrease in the number of job vacancies on the other hand.
Here’s the list of provinces with job vacancies;
Canadian Province Job Vacancies British Columbia 155,400 Manitoba 32,400 Ontario 364,000 Quebec 232,400 Saskatchewan 24,300 Alberta 103,380 New Brunswick 16,430 Newfoundland and Labrador 8,185 Northwest Territories 1,820 Nova Scotia 22,960 Nunavut 405 Prince Edward Island 4,090 Yukon 1,720
What’s Next?
Immigration becomes a top priority for the Canadian government when it comes to filling the labour shortage gap. Targeted draws for high-demand Canadian occupations are projected to become more common in 2023 under the Express Entry system of programs.
Additionally, Canada is already taking steps to make the most of the workforce it already has by granting Open Work Permits (OPWs) to the families of individuals with LMIA-based work permits and by removing the limit on the number of hours that international students can work until December 31, 2023. These policy improvements, combined with the aforementioned facts, highlight a favourable hiring environment going into 2023.
