On a year-over-year basis, after increasing by 4.1% in March, the average weekly wage in Canada increased by 3.7% in April to $1,240. This weekly average earnings were at $1,204 in June 2023. Statistics Canada Survey released report of Employment, Payrolls and Hours on June 27.

Month over month, average weekly earnings were little changed for a third consecutive month in April. The growth in average weekly earnings can reflect a range of factors, including changes in wages, composition of employment, hours worked, and base-year effects. Average weekly hours stood at 33.5 hours in April, unchanged from the previous month but up 0.9% on a year-over-year basis.

The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as “payroll employment” in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—decreased by 22,700 (-0.1%) in April. This decline followed three consecutive monthly increases from January to March, with a cumulative gain of 92,500 (+0.5%) over this period.

Meanwhile, job vacancies fell by 32,000 (-5.3%) to 575,400 in April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline.

Job vacancies fell by 32,000 (-5.3%) to 575,400 in April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. This was the lowest number of job vacancies since January 2021 (561,300). Compared with April 2023, job vacancies were down by 223,400 (-28.0%) in April 2024.

Total labour demand—which corresponds to the sum of filled and unfilled positions—was little changed month over month and on a year-over-year basis in April.

The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—decreased 0.2 percentage points to 3.2% in April compared with March, and was 1.3 percentage points lower than in April 2023 (4.5%).

There were 2.3 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in April 2024, up from 2.2 in March. This increase in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio in April was largely due to fewer job vacancies (-32,000; -5.3%), as the number of unemployed persons (from the Labour Force Survey) was little changed in April.

Job vacancies decreased in seven sectors in April: manufacturing (-5,500; -13.3%), retail trade (-5,200; -8.6%), transportation and warehousing (-5,100; -13.6%), wholesale trade (-3,700; -15.4%), educational services (-3,600; -15.2%), finance and insurance (-3,400; -16.8%), and real estate and rental and leasing (-1,500; -19.5%).

Job vacancies fall in four provinces

In April, decreases in job vacancies were recorded in Ontario (-13,900; -6.5%), Alberta (-11,500; -14.7%), Manitoba (-3,500; -15.6%) and Prince Edward Island (-1,000, -37.2%). There was little change in the remaining six provinces.

On a year-over-year basis, the job vacancy rate was down in all provinces in April, most notably 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 (4.0%) had the highest job vacancy rate in April, followed by Saskatchewan (3.6%). British Columbia also had the lowest unemployment rate (5.0%) of any province in April as well as the lowest unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio, at 1.5. Meanwhile, Prince Edward Island (2.4%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (2.3%) recorded the lowest job vacancy rates in April.