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Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, third quarter 2015

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Released: 2016-02-11

There were 401,000 job vacancies in Canada in the third quarter and the job vacancy rate was 2.6%.

Job vacancy rates across Canada

Nunavut (4.2%) and Yukon (3.9%) had the highest job vacancy rates, followed by British Columbia (3.4%), Alberta (3.1%) and Nova Scotia (3.0%). Ontario had a job vacancy rate of 2.6%, in line with the national average. Quebec had the lowest rate at 1.8%.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Job vacancy rate by province and territory, third quarter 2015
Job vacancy rate by province and territory, third quarter 2015

The job vacancy rate refers to the share of jobs that are unfilled out of all payroll jobs available. It represents the number of job vacancies expressed as a percentage of labour demand, that is, the sum of all occupied and vacant jobs.

Within the three provinces with the highest job vacancy rates in the third quarter, the economic regions with the highest rates were Northeast, British Columbia (4.7%), Banff–Jasper–Rocky Mountain House, Alberta (5.1%), and Halifax, Nova Scotia (3.5%).

Of the 10 economic regions with the highest job vacancy rates in Canada, 9 were in the western provinces or in the territories and 1 was in Quebec. All of the 10 economic regions with the lowest job vacancy rates were in Quebec. There are 76 economic regions in Canada.

Job vacancies by occupation

There are 140 occupational groups at the three-digit National Occupational Classification (NOC) level. At this level, retail salespersons (27,000), as well as food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations (26,000) had the most job vacancies, followed by chefs and cooks (15,000). However, the composition of job vacancies by occupation varied across the country. For example, while British Columbia accounted for 17.6% of job vacancies in Canada, it had 27.8% of all the job vacancies for chefs and cooks.

There are 500 occupations at the four-digit NOC. At this level, out of the 10 occupations with the largest number of job vacancies, nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates was the only one with a majority of job vacancies for which a postsecondary education was sought (76.5%).

Job vacancies and offered hourly wage

The Job Vacancy and Wage Survey provides information on the wage offered for the job vacancies that businesses are trying to fill, expressed as an average of hourly rates.

Nationally, the hourly wage offered for job vacancies averaged $18.45 in the third quarter.

Nunavut had the highest wage offered at $29.35, followed by the Northwest Territories at $22.90. Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Yukon had similar offered wages, ranging from $18.80 to $18.90. Prince Edward Island ($13.85) and New Brunswick ($14.95) had the lowest offered wages.

Wood Buffalo–Cold Lake, Alberta ($24.95), and Northern, Saskatchewan ($24.20), were among the 10 economic regions with the highest offered wage. Montréal ($21.95) and Toronto ($20.35), two of the largest economic regions in terms of employment and job vacancies, were also among the top 10. In contrast, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia ($13.20), and Edmundston–Woodstock, New Brunswick ($13.85), were among the economic regions with the lowest offered wage.

Nationally, job vacancies where employers sought a bachelor's degree had an offered wage of $34.50, which was about $16.00 above the national average. Job vacancies for which employers did not seek any minimum level of education had an offered wage of $13.45.

Job vacancies by full-time and part-time status

In the third quarter, about two-thirds of job vacancies in Canada were for full-time work. Nunavut had the highest proportion of job vacancies that were for full-time jobs at 85.6%. Provincially, Quebec (73.5%) and Alberta (67.9%) had the highest proportion, while Prince Edward Island had the lowest at 54.9%.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Proportion of job vacancies by type of work, province and territory, third quarter 2015
Proportion of job vacancies by type of work, province and territory, third quarter 2015

Nationally, the average offered wage was higher for job vacancies that were for full-time positions ($20.85) than for part-time positions ($13.80). This tendency was observed in all provinces and territories.

Looking at the 10 three-digit NOC groups with the highest proportion of full-time job vacancies, 4 of which were management occupational groups, 9 had an offered wage above the national average.

Job vacancies by type of position

Nationally, about three-quarters of job vacancies were for permanent positions. Among the provinces, Quebec (81.0%) and Alberta (80.5%) had the highest proportion of job vacancies for permanent positions, followed by Manitoba (78.6%). The Atlantic provinces had the lowest proportion in the third quarter, ranging from 57.2% in Prince Edward Island to 69.1% in Nova Scotia.

Chart 3  Chart 3: Proportion of job vacancies by type of position, province and territory, third quarter 2015
Proportion of job vacancies by type of position, province and territory, third quarter 2015

At the national level, the average offered wage for permanent positions was $19.25 compared with $15.90 for temporary positions. The offered wage for permanent positions was higher than for temporary positions in every province and territory except for Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Nunavut, where the offered wage was about the same for permanent and temporary positions.

The distribution of job vacancies by province contributed to differences in the offered wages. For example, Quebec had one of the highest offered wages ($18.85), which partly reflected the fact that it had one of the highest proportions of job vacancies that were for full-time jobs (73.5%) as well as for permanent positions (81.0%).

In contrast, Prince Edward Island had the lowest offered wage ($13.85), which partly reflected the fact that it had the lowest proportion of job vacancies that were for full-time jobs (54.9%) as well as for permanent positions (57.2%).

Of the 10 three-digit NOC groups with the highest proportion of job vacancies that were for permanent positions, 6 were for management positions.







  Note to readers

The Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) is a quarterly survey that provides comprehensive information on job vacancies by industry sector, detailed occupations and skill level sought for Canada, the provinces, territories and economic regions. With its broader scope and greater detail, the JVWS is Statistics Canada's foremost source of current and comprehensive information on job vacancies in Canada.

The JVWS, sponsored by Employment and Social Development Canada, is the largest survey on job vacancies ever conducted by Statistics Canada. It responds to key labour market information needs by providing data on current and emerging labour market demand. Results will support decision making by job seekers, students, employers and policy makers.

JVWS data are not seasonally adjusted. Therefore, quarter-to-quarter comparisons should be interpreted with caution.

The annual wage and employment data by occupation started being collected for the wage component of the survey in 2016.

Summary statistics related to the job vacancy time series from the Survey of Employment, Payroll and Hours are available in CANSIM.

Data quality of the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey

The target population of the survey includes all business locations in Canada, except for those primarily involved in religious organizations and private households. While federal, provincial and territorial administrations are also excluded from the survey for now, they will be phased in at a later date.

Next release

Job vacancy data from the JVWS for the fourth quarter of 2015 will be released in May 2016.

Products

More information about the concepts and use of data from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey is available online in the Guide to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (Catalogue number75-514-G) from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications.

Contact information

For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).

To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Elton Cryderman (613-951-4317; elton.cryderman@canada.ca) or Myriam Hazel (613-219-4345; myriam.hazel@canada.ca), Labour Statistics Division.

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