Canada’s Labour Shortage Fades as Job Vacancies Continue to Decline

Canada’s job market continued to shrink in the third quarter of 2025, with total vacancies dropping to 492,500, a 2.8 per cent decline from the previous quarter, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report.

The decrease marked the third consecutive quarterly fall in openings this year, and the 13th since job vacancies peaked at 985,900 in mid-2022 — a downward trend in which the market has moved from labour shortage to job shortage.

Data from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey indicates jobs are becoming scarcer. Vacancies for full-time roles decreased by approximately 11,200 (a three-per-cent drop) in the third quarter, while part-time positions remained mostly unchanged. Permanent job openings also dipped 3.1 per cent, while temporary vacancies showed little movement.

On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down significantly, with full-time positions down 5,800 (12.3 per cent) and part-time roles down 5,100 (3.8 per cent). Both permanent and temporary roles recorded year-over-year declines.

Despite the overall drop in available positions, the job vacancy rate — a measure of vacant positions as a share of total labour demand — held steady at 2.8 per cent. This suggests that while fewer jobs were open, the ratio of vacancies relative to the number of employed and unemployed persons remained roughly stable over the quarter.

The data also suggest that long-term vacancies (defined as jobs open for more than 90 days) continued to decline as a proportion of total vacancies.

Long-term openings accounted for 27.1 per cent of all vacancies in the third quarter, down from 31.6 per cent in the same period last year — a sign that employers may be finding it easier to fill roles thanks to a greater supply of available labour.

Vacancy declines were seen across a range of occupations. The largest drops were in healthcare, trades, transportation and business and administrative jobs. Sectors such as manufacturing and utilities recorded the most stable figures.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies in Canada in August edged down 2.4 per cent from July to reach their lowest figure since 2017.

The agency says the 457,400 vacancies was the lowest number since August 2017, excluding the April-to-September 2020 period when data was unavailable during the pandemic.

On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down 15.2 per cent in August.

Statistics Canada says the job vacancy rate — which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — was 2.6 per cent in August, unchanged from July.

The job vacancy rate in August 2024 was 3.0 per cent.

The agency says there were 3.5 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in August, the highest unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio since November 2016, excluding the April-to-September period in 2020.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2025.

The Canadian Press