Canadian Payroll Employment Little Changed in August

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that payroll employment was little changed in August, edging up by 3,300 positions, or 0.0%, following a 25,600-job (0.1%) gain in July. Year-over-year, payroll employment increased by 31,500 positions, or 0.2%.

Employment increases were recorded in public administration (5,000 or 0.4%); construction (2,300 or 0.2%); administrative and support, waste management, and remediation services (1,600 or 0.2%); and management of companies and enterprises (900 or 0.7%).

These gains were offset by declines in retail trade (-4,600 or -0.2%); wholesale trade (-3,300 or -0.4%); professional, scientific, and technical services (-2,600 or -0.2%); and other services, except public administration (-1,500 or -0.3%).

StatCan said job vacancies fell by 11,300, or 2.4%, to 457,400 openings in August—the lowest level since August 2017, when vacancies totaled 435,500. Compared with a year earlier, job vacancies were down 82,100, or 15.2%.

There were 3.5 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in August, up from 3.3 in July. This was the highest unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio since November 2016, excluding April to September 2020 when data were not collected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.