Job vacancies continue to decline in the first quarter
Job vacancies fell by 24,300 (-3.6%) to 648,600 in the first quarter, marking the seventh consecutive quarterly decline from the record high of 983,600 reached in the second quarter of 2022. Job vacancies decreased for permanent positions (-24,500; -4.5%), with little change for temporary positions. In the first quarter of 2024, vacancies fell more for full-time jobs (-15,400; -3.1%) than for part-time jobs (-8,900; -5.1%).
Meanwhile, payroll employment held steady in the first quarter. Total labour demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions) edged down 0.1% from the fourth quarter of 2023 and was virtually unchanged from the first quarter of the same year.
The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—decreased 0.2 percentage points to 3.6% in the first quarter of 2024, marking the seventh consecutive quarterly decline. The job vacancy rate in the first quarter was at its lowest since the first quarter of 2020.
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