The latest accounting of job vacancies in Canada offers some interesting insights into a couple major forces at play in this country’s labour markets.
First, Saskatchewan remains one of the best places to find a job. Second, government is doing a lot of hiring. 5,000 names were added to public payrolls nationally, most at the local level. And the retail sector is feeling the pinch with the lowest level of unfilled jobs it has seen in five years.
The latest figures are for December which also offers a year-end snapshot for 2023. When all the numbers were in, Saskatchewan and BC had the highest job vacancy rates in the nation as employers scramble to find talent. But, while the end result is the same, the stories for BC and Saskatchewan are probably different.
Out there, the high cost of housing is making it difficult for people in lower-paying jobs so they are headed to other parts of the country. That’s not the story in Saskatchewan. For us, it’s about attracting enough people to fill all the positions our employers are creating.