Construction job openings hit an unprecedented high in March with 81,900 vacancies, according to Statistics Canada in its latest Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours.
The 27 per cent increase in the month, following five consecutive monthly declines, pushed the job vacancy rate to a record high of 7.3 per cent, up 1.3 percentage points from February.
Vacancies increased by more than one-third in accommodation, food services and retail while there were record vacancies in health care, social assistance and construction.
Across all sectors, Canadian employers were actively seeking to fill more than one million (1,012,900) vacant positions at the beginning of March 2022, a record high. Vacancies increased by 22.6 per cent, or 186,400, in the month and were up more than 60 per cent from March 2021.
The job vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant positions as a proportion of all positions, vacant and filled, was 5.9 per cent in March 2022, matching the record high observed in September 2021.
The number of vacancies reached a record high in Nova Scotia (23,000), Manitoba (30,000), Saskatchewan (26,600), and British Columbia (178,300).
Overall, the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer increased by 118,100 in March. This coincided with the continued easing of public health measures, as remaining capacity limits affecting business operations had generally been lifted by the first two weeks of March, although some combination of masking, proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or COVID-19 testing remained a requirement in some settings in certain jurisdictions.
Nationally, the average weekly earnings, derived by dividing total weekly earnings by the total number of payroll employees, rose by about a per cent, to $1,170 in March. On a year-over-year basis, average weekly earnings have increased 4.3 per cent, more than double the year-over-year increases observed in February and January.
StatCan noted labour demand tends to vary over the course of the year due to seasonal patterns, with increased economic activity typically driving higher demand for labour in the spring and summer and lower demand in the winter.
