Canadian employment is steadily growing. Statistics Canada revealed data concerning the July labor market of 2022. Canada witnessed 964,000 job vacancies and broke the existing record of job vacancies.
Canadian employment- updates on job vacancies
According to official reports, July 2022 recorded a decline in job vacancies by approximately 73,000 jobs. However, Canadian employment grew by more than 130,000 job positions compared to last year in July.
After mending the labor market’s seasonal effects, Statistics Canada revealed that the job decline in June and July occurred due to seasonal factors. Additionally, the Accommodation and Food sector and the healthcare and social assistance sectors possessed the maximum number of Canadian employment vacancies in July 2022.
The effect on industries
Few industries even experienced a decline in job vacancies even though the number of vacancies generally increased. The Accommodation and Food sector underwent a deterioration of 20,000 Canadian employment vacancies in July. The job vacancy ratio is calculated according to the number of positions per the total number of filled posts. The total percentage of vacant job positions remained consistent at 10 percent. The percentage of vacant job positions based on the national average accounted for 5.4 percent. Moreover, this percentage clearly indicates a massive demand for job positions in the specific industry.
Also, the healthcare and social assistance sector had a growth rate of 6 percent in July this year compared to June 2021. Although the change in June wasn’t that great, the demand for industrial workers didn’t continue to increase. Besides this, hospital services faced challenges due to acute labor shortages. This is a primary sector currently facing recruitment issues and is certainly a matter of concern.
Staff shortages have also led to Canada’s measures to eliminate barriers for Physicians to acquire permanent residence in Canada. The condition applies to people already residing in the country.
Further indications regarding Canadian employment
The increase in Canadian employment vacancies indicates Canada’s current solid recruitment climate. Notably, the Accommodation and Food sector and the Healthcare and Social Assistance sector appear to have a continuous high demand. Despite the decline in job vacancies, the Canadian employment rate remains higher than the national vacancy rate.
Additionally, the flexibility of the recent Canadian Covid regulations also led to the normalcy of business practices.
The skills gap in the workforce
Reportedly, Canadian employers are presently also facing an issue of the skills gap in the workforce despite the solid recruitment climate in the country. Approximately 56.1 percent of the businesses in Canada in 2021 claimed that their current workforce lacked the proficiency to perform the job roles per the skill levels. The Accommodation and Food Services sector observed a huge skill gap accounting for 78.8 percent of Canadian employees. This percentage appears to be the highest in any of the sectors.
Professional, technical and scientific services reported the lowest skill gap in its existing workforce. Overall, almost 34.3 percent of businesses experienced a workforce skill gap. However, the country seeks to eliminate these current challenges concerning labor and skill shortages. As a result, Canada plans to focus on immigration levels and receive at least 430,000 immigrants each year.
Apart from this, Canada will declare its new strategy for newcomers with the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025 by November 1.
