Job Vacancies Up in the East, But Not in the West

On September 20, 2019, Statistics Canada released the 2^nd quarter report on Canadian job vacancies* and things are looking good for Canadian employees. Bottom line: good jobs appear to be available, with vacancy rates at their highest levels since 2015. Where are we seeing the biggest growth in job opportunities and how is the financial services industry performing? Let’s look at the numbers:

The Numbers

• Job vacancies in the second quarter of 2019 are up 6.4% from the second quarter of 2018
• The job vacancy rate has continued to rise as vacancies grow at a faster pace than employment. The job vacancy rate increased to 3.4%. This is the highest rate since 2015
• This is the 11^th consecutive quarter Canada has seen growth in the number of vacancies. [1]

The Places

The number of job vacancies and the vacancy rate rose in four provinces and two territories: Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and Nunavut.

However, this growth was not seen everywhere. A decline in the number of job vacancies and vacancy rates is seen in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, while the remaining provinces--Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC as well as the North West Territories--saw little change.

The Opportunities

The largest areas of growth are found in 6 of the 10 largest industrial sectors:

• Accommodation and food services
• Professionals
• Scientific services
• Technical services
• Health care
• Social assistance

Growth is also seen in smaller sectors, most notably in:

• Agriculture
• Forestry
• Fishing and Hunting

These three areas also saw the highest level of growth since 2015.

Vacancies also increased in information and cultural industries such as telecommunications and broadcasting.

How is the Finance Industry?

The job vacancy rate did drop slightly in the second quarter of 2019 when compared to 2018 from 2.7% in June 2018 to 2.1% in June 2019. However, we are still seeing growth in these industries, and with a large percentage of current employees in the financial sector approaching retirement, we can expect to see these numbers fluctuate and rise over the coming years as those aged 55 and older approach retirement. According to the 2018 Labour Force Characteristics , 153,700 of those employed in the Finance and Insurance sector were age 55 and over. This indicates that in the next ten or fifteen years we’ll likely see more jobs opening up in the finance and insurance industries, especially in provinces with the highest number of employees aged 55 and over: Ontario, Quebec, BC, and Alberta.

In conclusion, despite concerns over the economic welfare of Canada, we are seeing positive growth in employment across much of Canada and the finance industry is no exception.

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*Statistics Canada

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