Saskatchewan had the lowest job vacancy rate in the country in November. Quebec had the highest.
This is one of a basketful of measures we use to assess the condition of labor market in the country. When employers post job openings, there a couple factors that will determine how quickly the vacancy will be filled. One is the size of the labor pool – this can sometimes be measured by the unemployment rate – and another is whether pay levels are competitive.
There were just over 8,000 unfilled jobs on the books in Saskatchewan in November. That is about 1.7 percent of the total job pool. That vacancy rate is the lowest in the country.
Then, when you look at wage rates, we saw a bit of softening in November. Normally, we’d think that is a problem but in the pandemic environment it’s the exact opposite. Lockdowns hit lower paying jobs hardest so a falling rate means more lower paid positions remain filled…further evidence that Saskatchewan’s lockdown is milder than anywhere else in the rest of the country.
