September 16, 2025JOB VACANCIES AND WAGES, Q2 2025 Quarter-over-quarter (Q2 2025 vs Q1 2025)
Nova Scotia's job vacancy rate (seasonally adjusted) was unchanged at 3.2% in Q2 2025, representing 14,185 job vacancies.
Nationally, the job vacancy rate was 2.8%, down 0.1 percentage points from Q1 2025. The highest job vacancy rates were reported in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, while the lowest job vacancy rate was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Southern Nova Scotia and Halifax reported lower job vacancy rates compared to the previous quarter, while North Shore and Annapolis Valley regions reported higher job vacancy rates. North Shore reported the highest job vacancy rate at 4.2% while Halifax reported the lowest at 2.8%.
The number of job vacancies in Nova Scotia declined by 0.8% from Q1 2025 to Q2 2025. Nationally, job vacancies declined 3.6% with declines in every province except Alberta. The steepest decline was in Prince Edward Island.
In Nova Scotia, job vacancies were down the most in Cape Breton while Annpolis Valley posted the largest gain in job vacancies in the second quarter of 2025.
Year-over-year (Q2 2025 vs Q2 2024)
Compared with Q2 2024, Nova Scotia's job vacancy rate was down by 0.3 percentage points. Nationally, the job vacancy rate was down 0.4 percentage points, with all provinces reporting declining job vacancy rates from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025.
Within Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Southern Nova Scotia and Halifax reported lower job vacancy rates from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025. North Shore reported a higher job vacancy rate compared to one year ago, while Annapolis Valley reported no change.
The number of job vacancies declined by 7.8% in Nova Scotia from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025, the slowest decline among provinces. Nationally, the number of job vacancies fell by 12.6% with declines in all provinces. Prince Edward Island reported the largest percentage decline in job vacancies.
Among Nova Scotia's economic regions, Southern Nova Scotia reported the largest year-over-year decline in job vacancies, while North Shore region reported the fastest increase.
The average hourly wage offered on vacant positions (unadjusted for seasonality) was $24.55 in Nova Scotia during Q2 2025, up from $24.05 a year earlier. All provinces except New Brunswick reported higher average hourly wages on vacant positions compared with Q2 2024.
Average hourly wages on vacant positions were $28.00 nationally, with the highest values in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick reported the lowest average wages on vacant positions in Q2 2025.
Across Nova Scotia, average hourly wages on vacant positions were up for Annapolis Valley, Southern Nova Scotia and Halifax regions. North Shore average wages were down while Cape Breton's were unchanged. Q2 2025 wages were highest in Halifax and lowest in the North Shore economic region.
Average wages on vacant positions grew by 2.1% in Nova Scotia from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025. Nationally, average wages on vacant positions were up 4.5% over this period with gains in all provinces except New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island reported the largest increase in average wages on vacant positions.
Southern Nova Scotia reported the fastest year-over-year growth in average wages for vacant positions while North Shore reported the only decline.
In unadjusted job vacancy rates by industry in Nova Scotia, accommodation/food and personal/repair services reported the highest job vacancy rates in Q2 2025. Information/culture, education and mining/oil/gas reported the lowest job vacancy rates. (Note: no data were available for utilities for Q2 2024).
Compared with Q2 2024, there were notable declines in job vacancy rates for Nova Scotia's arts/recreation and health/social/daycare. Administrative/support/call centres and agriculture/forestry/fishing had the largest increases in the vacancy rate, while public administration and retail trade saw no change.
Despite a notable decline, the number of job vacancies remained highest in health/social/daycare in Nova Scotia in Q2 2025.
Across all industries, job vacancies were down 6.6% in unadjusted results when comparing Q2 2025 to Q2 2024. The steepest percentage declines were observed in company management, arts/recreation, information/culture, wholesale trade and health/social assistance/daycare. Agriculture/forestry/fishing and real estate/leasing reported the largest increases in job vacancies over this period. (Note: no data were available for utilities for Q2 2024).
Compared with national averages by industry, Nova Scotia's job vacancy rates were higher for most reporting industries.
In Q2 2025, average hourly wages offered on vacant positions in Nova Scotia were highest for utilities, mining/oil/gas and information/culture. Hourly wages for vacant positions in Nova Scotia were lowest for accommodation/food services.
From Q2 2024 to Q2 2025, average hourly wages offered on vacant positions in Nova Scotia were up for most industries. Note that quarterly data are unavailable for utilities in Q2 2024.
Growth in average hourly wages for vacant positions was strongest for information/culture, comparing Q2 2025 against Q2 2024. Real estate/rental/leasing reported the steepest percentage decline in hourly wages offered on vacant positions over this period.
Compared with national averages, average hourly wages on vacant Nova Scotia positions were lower for all industries in Q2 2025. The gap was largest for company management.
The majority of job vacancies in Q2 2025 required no more than a high school education and 3 years or less of experience.
Comparing Q2 2025 against Q2 2024, job vacancies were down for all educational requirements except for trade/apprenticeship as well as those requiring no minimum education. Among experience requirements, vacancies were down for all experience levels except for between three and five years of experience.
Average hourly earnings for vacant positions were on average higher for increased experience and educational requirements.
Over the last year (comparing Q2 2025 against Q2 2024), average hourly wages were up the most for positions requiring three to five years of experience, as well as for those requiring college education. Wages were down for vacant positions requiring more than 8 years of experience, as well as less than one year of experience. By education requirement, average wages were down for trades/apprenticeships as well as for no minimum education.
Trends
Following the pandemic (when job vacancy data were not collected), there was a substantial rise in Nova Scotia's job vacancy rate. The national job vacancy rate also increased over this time. After peaking in early 2022, vacancy rates in both Nova Scotia and across Canada have declined steadily. Nova Scotia's job vacancy rate has declined to 3.2% and remained above national average since the first quarter of 2024.
The number of job vacancies in Nova Scotia peaked at 22,305 (seasonally adjusted) in Q3 2022. Since then, the number of vacancies has fallen by 8,120 with declines in all economic regions.
Growth in average hourly earnings for vacant positions across Nova Scotia has accelerated in the last two years.
Notes: Data collection activities were suspended from the start of the pandemic in March to September 2020. There remains a gap in the dataset for this survey.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0398-01 Job vacancies, payroll employees, and job vacancy rate, by economic regions, quarterly, adjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0441-01 Job vacancies, payroll employees, job vacancy rate, and average offered hourly wage by economic regions, quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0442-01 Job vacancies, payroll employees, job vacancy rate, and average offered hourly wage by industry sub-sector, quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0443-01 Job vacancies, proportion of job vacancies and average offered hourly wage by occupation and selected characteristics, quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality; Table 14-10-0444-01 Job vacancies and average offered hourly wage by occupation (unit group), quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality