Statistics Canada says job vacancies continued to fall in July

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies in July fell 5.8 per cent to their lowest level since May 2021.

The agency says the number of job vacancies fell declined by 43,100 to 701,300 in the month, continuing a steady downward trend since June last year.

On a year-over-year basis, Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies was down by 28.1 per cent or 273,700.

The number of unfilled jobs in retail trade fell by 10,800, or 12.8 per cent, while the accommodation and food services sector saw a drop of 10,400, or 11.6 per cent.

The job vacancy rate — which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — fell 0.3 percentage points to 3.9 per cent in July.

Statistics Canada says there were 1.7 unemployed people for every job vacancy in July, up from 1.5 in June and 1.2 at the start of the year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.