In May 2022, Statistics Canada disclosed a report on payroll employment (monthly), job vacancy, earnings, and hours. According to the report’s data, Canadian employees have been receiving less pay and benefits since May 2021. This survey along with the Survey of Employment combined with the Payrolls and Hours displays that from May onwards, 26,000 vacancies no longer fall under the payroll category.
Ontario and Manitoba provinces witnessed massive reductions with just 30,000 and 2,500 vacancies, respectively. However, British Columbia is the only one comprised of enhanced payroll employees.
Payroll employees experience an overall decline in all sectors
Over 17,000 payroll jobs declined notably in the service production sectors, including healthcare, education, and social assistance services. Significant deterioration was also seen in the construction sector. A major decline was also seen in the construction sector. May marked the first decline since July 2021, with a vast reduction of 17,500 jobs. Ontario experienced a significant loss of employment, specifically in the construction sector. The job decline resulted in a two-thirds employment deterioration in the construction sector. The failure has been caused due to the strikes that took place in the entire province, further resulting in the delay of various projects.
Retail trade experienced a higher employment rate compared to 2021
The retail trade sector also majorly declined in the province of Ontario. The retail trade professions also observed a significant reduction in terms of payroll employees for two consecutive months. However, the retail trade’s current employment rate continues to be 6 percent higher than what it was in May 2021. Provinces, such as British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador witnessed an increase in the employment of retail trade. This increase in the provinces stands in contrast with the province of Ontario. All the provinces that witnessed increased employment grew in the professional, technical, and scientific sectors. These sectors benefitted from 10,000 jobs related to Computer System design and the like under the tech occupations.
Weekly earnings increase up to 2.5 %
In May, the retail trade sector experienced a massive increase in weekly earnings even though jobs were lost. The increase is up to 9.3 percent compared to previous data during the same time in 2021. Salaries have increased up to 8.1 percent in the technical services, professional, and scientific sectors. The average higher rate is not because of the increased number of working hours. The number of hours worked remained similar to that of April, that is, 1.5 percent surpassing the pre-covid levels.
The above data demonstrates the continuation of the yearly increase. New Brunswick even experienced the highest increase rate of 7.4 percent compared to May 2021. Newfoundland and Labrador also experienced a high rate of 5.9 percent. Seven provinces experienced continuous growth in yearly wages.
The health care sector still has increased job vacancies
The unemployment rate in Canada hit a new low with a reduced 5.1 percent, it worsened in June to just 4.9 percent.
But according to the survey’s data, the employment rate in the health care and social services sectors reached 6.1 percent. Over 143,000 vacancies were implying massive growth compared to the data of April, with a reduced 5.4 percent. The vacancy rate is also 20 percent more than what it was in May.
There was a 10 percent vacancy rate in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Manitoba in May. This increase was due to the large contribution of the food and accommodation sector with 161,000 job vacancies. The higher number of vacancies in this sector has been experienced continuously for thirteen months.
Reduced unemployment rate with higher vacancies
On the whole, Canada is witnessing over 1 million job vacancies. Looking at April’s data, the data remains consistent. However, the vacant positions have increased to 300,000 since May 2021. The Labor Force Survey for May 2022 revealed that there was an ardent need to address the increasing labor shortage and also to enhance Canadian immigration due to the combination of the reduced unemployment rate and increasing job vacancies. Canada intends to welcome the highest target of over 430,000 permanent residents. The number will likely increase to 450,000 by 2024.
