Alberta had 34,500 unfilled jobs as of the fourth quarter of 2019 and its job vacancy rate held steady at 2.1 per cent which was well below the Canadian average of 3.2 per cent, according to the latest Help Wanted report released Wednesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
In the third quarter of 2019, the job vacancy rate in Alberta was 2.2 per cent with 35,300 unfilled jobs in the private sector.
The CFIB said Canada’s private sector continued to face a record-high job vacancy rate for the sixth consecutive quarter with 434,000 private sector jobs sitting vacant for at least four months which was 2,400 more than the third quarter of 2019 and 9,000 more than a year ago.
“Industry and geography play a role in vacancy rates, but factors like business size, growth intentions and future outlook, as well as the kinds of positions they are trying to fill are ultimately more influential,” said Ted Mallett, CFIB’s chief economist, in a news release.
“While high vacancy rates tell us that there are a lot of businesses looking to grow, they also pose additional cost and productivity pressures on those businesses that may have to forego contracts or capital investments while they try to staff up.”
Quebec (4.1 per cent) and British Columbia (3.6 per cent) continued the trend of posting the highest vacancy rates in the country, said the CFIB report, adding that Ontario maintained its 3.2 per cent vacancy rate and New Brunswick came in just under three per cent. Nova Scotia (2.5 per cent) and Newfoundland & Labrador (2.4 per cent) were the only provinces to post increases, gaining 0.1 per cent each over last quarter. Vacancy rates in Manitoba (2.4 per cent), Saskatchewan (2.2 per cent), Alberta (2.1 per cent) and Prince Edward Island (1.9 per cent) did not change and remained below the national average.
“The personal services industry, which includes businesses like hairdressers, mechanics and dry cleaners, continued to post the highest vacancy rates, seeing a 0.2 per cent increase over last quarter to 5.1 per cent. Construction followed at 4.3 per cent, despite a decrease in vacancies. Hospitality (4.2 per cent), professional services (3.7 per cent) and health services (3.6 per cent) all saw increases and posted rates above the national average. The lowest vacancy rates were in the natural resources (2.0 per cent) and finance (2.3 per cent) sectors,” added the CFIB report.
