Canada’s labor market just got another round of bad news from the national statistics agency. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows job vacancies fell sharply in Q3 2024, but not due to a hiring boom this time. Employers are hiring for fewer roles, and the outright size of the country’s labor market has begun to shrink for the first time in years. The news comes just a week after the agency warned that the unemployment rate has hit a 7-year high, excluding the pandemic. 

Canadian Job Vacancies Fell Sharply In Q3, Half The Jobs At Peak

The number of unfilled (“vacant”) jobs Canadian employers are looking to fill. 

Source: Stat Can; Better Dwelling.

Canada has seen the number of job vacancies contract sharply over the past few quarters. Job vacancies fell 7.8% (-48.7k jobs) to 572,350 vacancies in Q3 2024, down 22.4% (-165.2k jobs) since last year. The number is the lowest since 2021, despite the country adding 7% more people over the period. The quarterly vacancies are nearly half (-44.5%) the amount reported during the Q2 2022 peak. 

Canada Has Less Than 1 Job Vacant For Every 2 Jobseekers

The vacancy rate, the percent of job vacancies as a share of workers, has also pulled back sharply. The vacancy rate fell 0.3 points to 3.2% in Q3 2024, shedding a total of 0.9 points since last year. It’s the lowest rate since Q1 2020, before pandemic woes struck. 

More importantly, the vacancy rate is less than half the unemployment rate (6.8%). That means even if the unemployed population was perfectly matched to skills, there’s only 1 job available for every 2 workers actively seeking employment. Ouch. 

Canadian Employers Aren’t Just Hiring Less, The Job Market Shrunk

Stat Can made special note of falling labor demand, the total of both filled and vacant jobs. Total labor demand declined 0.1% in Q3 2024, a big change from Q3 in both 2023 (+0.8%), and 2022 (+6.8%). Not only are employers hiring less, but the near-record population growth is being met with an outright contraction of Canada’s labor market. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those times where the job market is tight because the economy is booming. The recent pullback is also occurring alongside a surging unemployment rate, now at the highest non-pandemic level since 2017. The bad news is compounded even further as nearly 1 in 5 of those jobless are now “long term” unemployed, with fewer jobs to get them out of that situation. 

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