Job vacancies continued to decline in the third quarter, and total labour demand was down slightly too, according to data from Statistics Canada.
In a new report, the national statistical agency reported that the number of job vacancies dropped by 31,900 in Q3 to 546,100.
While the decline in unfilled jobs marked the ninth straight quarterly drop, the contraction was notably smaller than in the second quarter, when the number of vacancies was down by 63,200.
Alongside the decline in job openings, Statistics Canada reported that total labour demand — the combination of filled and unfilled jobs — was down by 0.1% on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter.
The job vacancy rate, which represents the number of open jobs as a share of total labour demand, was also down by 0.1 percentage points in the third quarter to 3.1% — continuing its decline from a record high of 5.6% in the second quarter of 2022, the agency noted.
At the same time, the number of unemployed workers per open job — referred to as the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio — continued its steady increase in Q3, rising to 2.6 in the quarter, up from 2.4 in the second quarter, and 2.0 in the first quarter.
“The increase in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio from the third quarter of 2022 reflected both a decrease in job vacancies and an increase in the number of unemployed [workers],” Statistics Canada said. The ranks of the unemployed rose by 374,200 over the previous 24 months, while the number of open jobs dropped by 410,500.
Despite the weaker employment trends, wage growth accelerated in the third quarter, the data also showed.
The average offered hourly wage grew at a 7.6% annual rate in the third quarter, outpacing 6.8% growth in the second quarter, and 7.3% in the first quarter.