Job vacancies rise again in Quebec, particularly in Quebec City

Examining a help wanted bulletin board. (AP / Mark Lennihan)

Ottawa — A high number of vacant jobs remains a major problem in Quebec.

Statistics Canada on Tuesday reported that the number of job vacancies during the third quarter of 2019 increased in three provinces - Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador - as well as in the territory of Yukon.

In Quebec, the number of job vacancies increased by 16.2 per cent, or 19,100, over the same quarter in 2018.

Almost half of the increase in job vacancies in Quebec was in the retail, health care and social assistance sectors.

There was a 30-per-cent increase in vacancies in the Quebec City area, an 18-per-cent increase in the Monteregie region and a 12.5-per-cent increase in the Montreal area.

The rate of job vacancies in the province of Quebec is 3.6 per cent.

Canada-wide, the number of job vacancies hit 562,900 in the third quarter, up 12,200 or 2.2 per cent, from the same quarter in 2018.

The third-quarter increase in job vacancies was slightly lower than in the second quarter of 2019.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17.