[ALERT] Significant Increase in the Number of Job Vacancies in the 3rd quarter of 2018

According to Statistics Canada, All provinces in Canada, especially Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec reported a significant increase in the number of job vacancies in the 3rd quarter of 2018. The increase became more apparent from the beginning of July to the end of September 2018.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of jobs increased by 83, 000 from the third quarter of 2017. During the third quarter of 2018, there were 55, 000 job vacancies.

Quebec

In Quebec, the number of job vacancies increased by 35.5 percent from the 3rd quarter of 2017 to the 3rd quarter of 2018 to create 31, 020 more job vacancies. Most of them were in the sectors of accommodation, social assistance, manufacturing, and food services.

The job vacancy rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 3.2 percent making it the second largest increase after Prince Edward Island. For a long time, Quebec has had one of the lowest job vacancy rates in the country for a long time. However, the increase in the demand for labor has helped to increase the job vacancies. Quebec’s average is now 3.3%.

Some of the economic regions with the highest job vacancy rates are fro from Quebec. There was a 64.2 percent year-over-year increase in Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec.

The Immigration Ministry of Quebec made some adjustments to the Regular Skilled Worker Program to help the province recognize and prioritize candidates of immigration who have some work experience. They can help to deal with the problem of labor shortages in areas that are in need of more skilled workers such as Nord-du-Québec and Côte-Nord. It is this program that may have contributed to the increase in job vacancies.