Employers in Canada were actively trying to fill 997,000 job positions in Q2 of 2022, a new record for the country.
Statistics Canada announced this in a report on employment across the country.
According to the report, vacancies were up 4.7% (+45,000) from the first quarter, and 42.3% (+296,500) higher than in the second quarter of 2021.
According to Statistics Canada, Ontario saw the highest increase in job vacancies up 6.6 percent from the first to the second quarter this year.
The tight market conditions mean employers have a harder and lengthier hiring process. In the second quarter of 2022, there were 44 newly hired employees for every 100 vacancies.
In comparison, in the same period in 2016 there were 113 new hires for every 100 vacancies, Statistics Canada shows.
Salaries rose slightly as well, as the average offered hourly wages increased 5.3% to $24.05 in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis.
Nathan Janzen, senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, says an aging population is contributing to the surging vacancies.
“The aging population is certainly one driving factor for high job vacancies,” Janzen said. In August, the number of Canadians who retired jumped almost 50 percent, from August 2021, according to recent data from Statistics Canada.
