Job vacancies in Canada at near record highs – Foreign workers needed

The number of job vacancies in Canada increased by 72% at the end of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

Statistics Canada reports that the job vacancy rate was 5.1% in November 2021. That is up 2.1 percentage points from before the pandemic. Job vacancy rate measures job vacancies as a share of all vacant and filled positions.

The number of job vacancies in Canada remains high with 874,700 unfilled positions, according to Statistics Canada figures.

Canadian employers are desperately seeking to fill jobs in healthcare, construction, and the restaurant and hospitality sectors. The report says that these sectors are looking to temporary foreign workers and immigrants to fill the shortages.

Key sectors with high job vacancies in Canada

Statistics Canada reports an all-time high of 51,500 vacancies in the transportation and warehousing sector. The agency reports 11.7% drop in vacancies in the accommodation and food services sector to 130,100. Despite this drop, the sector posted a 9.9% vacancy rate in November, outpacing all other sectors for the seventh consecutive month.

That means the demand for serving staff, cooks, and people to bus tables is at near-record levels in Canada.

Health care is another sector with high job vacancies in Canada. In the health care sector, the number of vacancies stood at 119,600, with a vacancy rate of 5.2%. There are still plenty of jobs in that sector due to on-going pandemic and long-term labour shortage for healthcare workers.

In construction, the number of vacancies was 67,800 in November, with a vacancy rate of 5.6%. However, nationally, all industries within the construction sector had either returned to or surpassed their pre-pandemic employment level.

Job vacancies in Canada and job vacancy rate, unadjusted for seasonality

	Payroll employment – November 2021	Job vacancies – November 2021	Job vacancy rate – November 2021
	thousands	thousands	%
Sector aggregate	16,351.0	874.7	5.1
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	255.8	12.8	4.8
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction	192.3	9.5	4.7
Utilities	126.5	2.1E	1.6E
Construction	1,139.0	67.8	5.6
Manufacturing	1,539.8	81.8	5.0
Wholesale trade	798.1	33.5	4.0
Retail trade	1,990.9	104.0	5.0
Transportation and warehousing	778.5	51.5	6.2
Information and cultural industries	368.4	18.9	4.9
Finance and insurance	774.4	18.5	2.3
Real estate and rental and leasing	270.8	9.1	3.3
Professional, scientific and technical services	1,091.3	63.5	5.5
Management of companies and enterprises	124.0	4.4	3.5
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services	818.3	60.2	6.9
Educational services	1,435.8	17.0	1.2
Health care and social assistance	2,171.5	119.6	5.2
Arts, entertainment and recreation	267.0	21.3	7.4
Accommodation and food services	1,179.7	130.1	9.9
Other services (excluding public administration)	524.8	35.8	6.4
Public administration	504.2	13.3	2.6