Labour markets continued their retreat in October, as payroll employment declined, and job vacancies continued to slide too, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The number of employees on payrolls dropped by 21,100 in October, a dip of 0.1%, the agency reported on Thursday.
The decline in payroll employment, which followed two months of relative stability, was led by the manufacturing sector (down 5,900), followed by professional services (3,700), and accommodation and food services (3,500). Those drops were partly offset by gains in the retail sector and the construction industry, which saw its first gain since June.
StatCan said that payrolls declined in seven sectors, rose in four, and stayed more or less flat in nine sectors.
Alongside the decrease in payrolls, job vacancies were also down by about 15,000 in October. The number of unfilled jobs is down by nearly half (48.9%) from its peak at over 1 million in May 2022, StatCan noted.
With the decrease in open jobs, and the contraction in payroll employment, there are now 2.8 jobless workers for every unfilled job, up from 1.8 in October 2023.
The rise in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio, “[reflects] the cooling of labour market conditions over this period,” the agency noted.
Despite the chill in labour markets over the past 12 months, StatCan reported that average weekly earnings were up 5.3% in October (on a year-over-year basis) — an increase from 4.9% in September.
The agency also noted that, year-over-year, payroll employment was still up by 0.7% in October, while job vacancies were down 23.7%.