On Monday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported a 5.5% decline in job vacancies during Q3, representing 31,900 fewer positions and bringing the total to 546,100 open roles. This marks the ninth consecutive quarterly decline, although the drop was smaller than the 9.9% decrease (63,200 positions) in Q2.
In Q3, vacancies fell across both permanent and temporary positions. Permanent roles saw a 5.9% decline (27,800 positions), while temporary roles decreased by 4.0% (4,100 positions). These declines spanned both full-time and part-time jobs.
Total labor demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions) remained relatively unchanged for the fourth consecutive quarter. Year-over-year, labor demand was down 0.1%, a reversal from the 0.8% growth observed in 2023Q3 and 6.3% in 2022Q3.
The job vacancy rate (the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labor demand) fell by 0.1 percentage points to 3.1%, continuing its ninth straight quarterly decline from a record high of 5.6% in 2022Q2.
Meanwhile, the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio rose for the third consecutive quarter, reaching 2.6 in Q3, up from 2.4 in Q2 and 2.0 in Q1.
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