(OTTAWA) Job vacancies hit a record high of nearly one million for the first three months of 2022, continuing a trend that began in the first quarter of 2016, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Posted at 1:08 p.m.
Data from the federal agency shows the number of job vacancies rose 2.7% from the previous peak in the fourth quarter, with the pool of unemployed halving from the first quarter of 2021.
Job vacancies in the health care and social assistance sector reached a record high of 136,800, up 5.0% from the peak reached three months earlier and up 90.9% from compared to the first quarter of 2020.
Construction employers also struggled to fill positions in the first quarter, when 81,500 positions were unfilled, a number up 7.1% from the fourth quarter of 2021.
Job vacancies also continued to reach record highs in the manufacturing and retail sectors, up 5.3% and 12.8%, respectively, from the fourth quarter of 2021.
The average hourly wage of all employees increased by 3.0% compared to the previous year, while the consumer price index increased by 5.8% during this same period.