In April 2024, Canada’s labour market experienced a decline in payroll employment and job vacancies, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. This marked a shift following three months of consecutive employment gains from January to March. The average weekly earnings for Canadian workers also saw a modest year-over-year increase.
The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employers, measured as payroll employment, fell by 22,700 (-0.1%) in April. This downturn comes after a cumulative gain of 92,500 (+0.5%) over the first three months of the year. The decline in payroll employment was spread across various sectors, with eight out of twenty sectors showing decreases.
Manufacturing led the decline with a drop of 6,000 (-0.4%) payroll employees. Other notable declines occurred in administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-5,200; -0.6%), accommodation and food services (-4,800; -0.4%), and retail trade (-4,200; -0.2%). These losses were somewhat offset by gains in health care and social assistance (+5,700; +0.2%) and management of companies and enterprises (+2,100; +1.8%).
Within the manufacturing sector, declines were noted in ten out of twenty-one subsectors. The most significant losses were in fabricated metal product manufacturing (-1,300; -0.8%), machinery manufacturing (-900; -0.7%), and non-metallic mineral product manufacturing (-800; -1.5%). However, some subsectors experienced growth, including petroleum and coal product manufacturing (+400; +2.9%) and electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing (+400; +1.0%).
The administrative and support, waste management and remediation services sector continued its downward trend, with payroll employment falling by 5,200 (-0.6%) in April. This sector has seen a decline of 17,700 (-2.1%) since peaking in February 2023.
In retail trade, payroll employment decreased for the third consecutive month, with a decline of 4,200 (-0.2%) in April. Year-over-year, the sector saw a decrease of 19,600 (-1.0%). The most significant declines within retail trade were seen in sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book and miscellaneous retailers (-1,300; -0.6%), furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers (-600; -0.6%), and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-600; -0.4%).
Job vacancies fell by 32,000 (-5.3%) to 575,400 in April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest number of job vacancies since January 2021. Compared to April 2023, job vacancies were down by 223,400 (-28.0%).
The job vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand, decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.2% in April, down from 4.5% in April 2023. The number of unemployed persons for every job vacancy increased slightly to 2.3 in April from 2.2 in March.
Seven sectors experienced declines in job vacancies in April. The most significant decreases were seen in manufacturing (-5,500; -13.3%), retail trade (-5,200; -8.6%), and transportation and warehousing (-5,100; -13.6%). Retail trade recorded its lowest number of job vacancies since November 2019, with a total of 55,100 vacant positions in April.
Job vacancies decreased in four provinces: Ontario (-13,900; -6.5%), Alberta (-11,500; -14.7%), Manitoba (-3,500; -15.6%), and Prince Edward Island (-1,000; -37.2%). The job vacancy rate saw year-over-year declines across all provinces, with the most significant drops in Prince Edward Island (-2.3 percentage points to 2.4%), Quebec (-1.7 percentage points to 3.3%), and Alberta (-1.4 percentage points to 3.1%).
British Columbia had the highest job vacancy rate in April at 4.0%, coupled with the lowest unemployment rate (5.0%) and the lowest unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio (1.5). Conversely, Prince Edward Island (2.4%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (2.3%) had the lowest job vacancy rates.
Average weekly earnings in Canada increased by 3.7% year-over-year to $1,240.18 in April 2024. This growth followed a 4.1% increase in March. Average weekly hours stood at 33.5 hours, unchanged from March but up 0.9% from April 2023.
Statistics Canada’s report also highlighted the importance of two key labour market indicators: average weekly earnings from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) and average hourly wages from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Both indicators provide valuable insights into wage dynamics and labour market trends in Canada.