The number of jobs going unfilled in Saskatchewan is shrinking.
This has been a sore point for employers: they have been creating new jobs in response to growing demand but they have been unable to find people to fill those new spots.
But now there’s some narrowing of the gap between vacancies and occupied positions. Here in Saskatchewan the number of vacancies fell in July to 21,000 or 4.2 per cent of the overall labour pool compared to 27,000 or 5.4 per cent a month earlier.
The story is much the same across the country – unfilled job numbers are declining and they have now fallen below one million spots nationally. But the reasons behind the reduction are not as easily defined.
The simplest answer is that the economy is slowing and employers are pulling back so there are fewer positions to go empty.
But that does not explain the situation here where the economy is in ascension with more jobs being created. It is more likely that the growing population numbers announced last week is a factor. With a larger labour pool, we have more people to fill the vacancies.
