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November 30, 2023JOB VACANCIES, SEPTEMBER 2023 Statistics Canada released today monthly job vacancy results for September 2023. The data in this article refers to seasonally adjusted data.
Monthly (September 2023 vs August 2023, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 14,670 job vacancies in September 2023 with a vacancy rate of 3.3%. Nova Scotia job vacancies were at their lowest level since June 2021.
Canadian employers were actively recruiting for 632,175 positions in September with a vacancy rate of 3.6%. For Canada, job vacancies in September 2023 were at their lowest level since February 2021. The highest vacancy rates were reported in Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan while the lowest vacancy rate was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Job vacancy rates declined 0.4 percentage points in Nova Scotia and declined 0.2 percentage points nationally compared with August 2023. Job vacancy rates declined in five provinces and increased in four provinces compared to the previous month.
When compared to August 2023, the number of job vacancies in Nova Scotia declined 13.3% or 2,250 jobs. National job vacancies declined 6.1% or 40,751 jobs. Over the same period, vacancies decreased in six provinces led by Nova Scotia. The largest increases were in Prince Edward Island and Manitoba.
Year-over-year (September 2023 vs September 2022)
When compared to September 2022, job vacancy rate in Nova Scotia declined 1.2 percentage points. Nationally, job vacancy rate declined from 5.2% to 3.6%. Compared to one year earlier, the job vacancy rate declined in all provinces except Prince Edward Island where it grew by 0.6 percentage points.
When compared to September 2022, the number of job vacancies in Nova Scotia declined 28.6% or 5,885 vacancies. National job vacancies declined 30.7% or 279,710 vacant jobs. All provinces except Prince Edward Island saw declines in the number of vacancies over the twelve month period. In percentage terms, Québec declined the most.
Trend
Nationally, job vacancy rates peaked in March-May 2022 and have steadily declined since. Nova Scotia's job vacancy rates trended up for most of 2021 and early 2022 before declining through early 2023. The number of job vacancies in Nova Scotia peaked in May 2022 at 23,105, slowly declined to 18,605 in March 2023 and picked up to 20,645 in May 2023 before declining to around 14,670 in September 2023.
Canada job vacancy rate and job vacancies by industry, September 2023
Nationally, the health care and social assistance (5.4%) and personal repair services (5.2%) had the highest job vacancy rates.
After health care and social assistance, and personal repair services, the next highest job vacancy rates in Canada were reported in accomodation and food services, construction, and admin, support and waste management. The lowest vacancy rates were in utilities, education and finance and insurance.
Health care and social assistance had the highest number of vacancies at 132,860 in September. The number of vacancies declined in health care and social assistance and the job vacancy rate decreased compared to September 2022.
Notes: The job vacancy rate is the percentage of job positions (both filled and vacant) that are vacant. A higher job vacancy rate indicates a tighter labour market where it is more difficult for employers to find suitable candidates for the positions offered. A lower job vacancy rate signals labour market slack and potentially more job seekers competing for each vacant position.
Information on monthly job vacancies will continue in future Statistics Canada releases, and a more detailed analysis will be released with quarterly estimates from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0432-01 Job vacancies, payroll employees, and job vacancy rate by provinces and territories, monthly, adjusted for seasonality, Table 14-10-0406-01 Job vacancies, payroll employees, and job vacancy rate by industry sector, monthly, adjusted for seasonality
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