While the Canadian labour market progresses towards increasing payroll employment and decreasing job vacancies, several industries continue to have concentrated and persistent vacant positions in the face of labour shortages.

Month-to-month, the effect of these factors has yielded little change in total job vacancies from November (849,200) to December of 2022—meaning that many in demand positions remain vacant and labour is a key concern.

Five sectors accounted for 55% of all vacancies in Canada. These were:

• Health care and social assistance (149,800 vacancies);
• Accommodation and food services (108,000 vacancies);
• Retail trade (100,200 vacancies);
• Construction (77,400);
• Manufacturing (71,700); and
• Professional scientific and technical services (58,100)

Overall, while these employment increases are encouraging, they are relatively minuscule in relation to the vacancies that Canada would need to fill in the coming months in order to guarantee its continued economic health.

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