Which occupations saw the biggest reductions in the first quarter?
Job vacancies in Canada dropped to 524,300 (-20,600; -3.8%) in the first quarter of 2025, following little change in the final quarter of 2024, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan).
This figure is comparable to the pre-COVID-19 average of 506,300 recorded from 2017 to 2019, StatCan noted.
Year-over-year, the number of job openings fell by 116,100, representing an 18.1% decrease.
“Job vacancies fell for both full-time (-14,000; -3.4%) and part-time (-6,600; -5.0%) positions in the first quarter of 2025,” reported StatCan. “Permanent positions (-18,000; -4.0%) also fell in the first quarter of 2025, while temporary positions saw little change.”
Canada is projected to see 8.1 million job openings between 2024 and 2033, with retirements accounting for nearly 70% of new vacancies, according to the projections from the federal government.
Among occupational groups, sales and service occupations; trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations; and health occupations saw the largest year-over-year (YoY) declines in job openings, according to StatCan.
On a quarter-over-quarter measure, health occupations came out as the biggest winner.
“Despite the year-over-year decline, job vacancies in health occupations remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels (39,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019),” StatCan noted.
“Vacancies for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (-7,700 to 21,000), nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (-4,900 to 16,100) and licensed practical nurses (-2,700 to 10,000) recorded the largest decreases from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, these three occupations together accounted for 63.0% of the total vacancies in health occupations (not seasonally adjusted).”
Meanwhile, job vacancies declined across all education levels between the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.
The national job vacancy rate—which reflects the number of vacant positions as a share of total labour demand—fell by 0.1 percentage points to 2.9% in Q1 2025. On a YoY basis, the rate declined by 0.7 percentage points.
Among provinces and territories, the Northwest Territories and Yukon recorded the largest YoY declines in job vacancy rates, while Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador saw the smallest decreases.
However, Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 7.0% in May—the highest level since September 2016, excluding the pandemic years—according to the latest Labour Force Survey released by StatCan.
And a vast majority of Canadian employers continue to struggle with hiring skilled talent, according to a previous report from the ManpowerGroup.
StatCan also reported a slowdown in average offered hourly wage growth during the first quarter of 2025.
The average offered wage for vacant roles rose 6.1% year-over-year to $28.90, compared with 7.4% growth (to $28.30) in Q4 2024 and 7.6% (to $27.55) in Q3 2024.
By comparison, the YoY growth in average hourly wages for all employees was 3.6% in Q1 2025, down from 4.4% in the previous quarter.
“Recent increases in average offered hourly wages for vacant positions were partly due to a shift in the relative composition of job vacancies towards occupations that typically offer higher wages,” said StatCan.
“Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the average offered hourly wage rose in all 10 broad occupational groups in the first quarter of 2025. The largest annual growth took place in legislative and senior management occupations (+13.7% to $88.15), natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations (+9.7% to $24.35) and occupations in manufacturing and utilities (+8.6% to $26.55).”
Despite a modest rebound in wage growth in recent years, Canada’s lowest-income households continue to fall behind, as rising living costs outpace earnings and compound affordability pressures, according to a previous Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report.
