Number of job vacancies grows in April to just over one million

OTTAWA -

Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies at the beginning of April hit just over one million, up more than 40 per cent compared with a year earlier.

The agency says employers in Canada were actively seeking to fill 1,001,100 vacant positions, up 23,300 from March and a gain of 308,000 compared with April 2021.

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It says the job vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant positions as a proportion of all positions, was 5.8 per cent in April compared with 4.4 per cent in the same month last year.

The number of job vacancies hit a record high in several sectors including construction which saw the number of job vacancies hit 89,900 in April, up 12,000 from March and up 27,200 from April 2021.

The number of vacancies were also at a record high for professional, scientific and technical services; transportation and warehousing; finance and insurance; arts, entertainment and recreation; and real estate and rental and leasing.

The health care and social assistance sector saw the number of job vacancies fall to 125,200 in April from a peak of 147,500 in March, however they were still up 21.3 per cent compared with a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2022