Which firms have high job vacancy rates
in Canada?
by René Morissette and Xuelin Zhang
Business and
Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series,
No. 176
Since the Job Vacancy Survey conducted by Statistics Canada between
1971 and 1978, there was no data which directly measured job vacancies in Canada.
Using data from the 1999 Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), we attempt to fill
this gap. We study the determinants of job vacancies at the establishment level.
We find that establishments with high vacancy rates in 1999 consisted of
at least two types: 1) those employing a highly skilled workforce, innovating,
adopting new technologies, increasing skill requirements, facing significant international
competition and operating in tight local labour markets, and 2) those which were
non-unionized, operated in retail trade and consumer services industries and were
not part of a multi-location firm. In profit-oriented establishments, more than
40% of all job vacancies and 50% of long-term vacancies (i.e. vacancies unfilled
for at least four months) originated from retail trade and consumer services industries,
a sector that pays relatively low wages and has a high rate of labour turnover.
This sector accounted for 30% of jobs in the private sector. This finding suggests
that even in periods of strong growth in the high-technology industries, a substantial
share of job vacancies is found outside those industries.
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