Canada Witnesses Highest Job Vacancies in the First Quarter of 2022

The year 2022 witnesses the highest unemployment in Canada. The job vacancies went up to 957500 in the first quarter according to Statistics Canada. The number of job vacancies in Canada has increased by more than 72% exhibiting about 401900 positions associated with the first quarter of 2020. The job vacancies in Q1 2022 exceeded the previous high numbers logged in Q4 2021 by approximately 3%, showcasing 24900 more vacant positions.

The healthcare and social assistance sector vacancies have spiked to another level. Pre-pandemic, labour shortages were one of the main problems these sectors were facing but now with COVID-19, the gap has widened even more. In comparison to the first quarter of 2020, job vacancies in Canada increased by 91% in the first quarter of 2022.

Moreover, the construction sector is also facing a record-high number of job vacancies. In quarter 1, the Canadian employers were looking to fulfill 81500 positions and now this sector is also experiencing an increase of over 7% from Q4 2021.

Job vacancies continue to spike in the manufacturing and retail trade sectors. Last quarter, it was 87400 vacant jobs and now it has increased to the all-time high number of 114600 jobs. Accommodations and food services have around 133800 vacant positions in Q1. Regardless of the big number, the number dipped to 12% from the previous quarter.

In 2020, the unemployment to job vacancy ratio was 1.3 in Q1 and then dipped to 2.2 in the same duration. Before COVID-19, this meant that the number of employed workers has reduced as job vacancies continue to grow.

The unemployment to job vacancy ratio differs across all the Canadian provinces. While there was less than one unemployed person for each job vacancy in Quebec and British Columbia, there were four unemployed people for each vacancy in Newfoundland and Labrador.  The lesser ratio points to a tighter labour market and labour shortages.

According to the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions dated from January 4 to February 7, recruitment of skilled professionals was expected to be a problem for almost two-fifths of businesses, and retaining employees was expected to be a complication for about 30%.