Canadian employers added 21,200 payroll positions in October, offsetting September’s decline and marking a 0.1% monthly increase, according to Statistics Canada data released Dec. 18.
The October gains brought year-over-year payroll employment growth to 68,300 positions, or 0.4%, compared with the same month in 2024.
However, job vacancies dropped by 19,100 positions to 467,000 in October — the lowest level since October 2017. The vacancy rate fell to 2.6% from 2.7% in September, while the ratio of unemployed workers to open positions remained steady at 3.3 to 1.
Health care leads sector gains
Health care and social assistance recorded the largest monthly increase with 10,300 new payroll positions, a 0.4% gain that continued an upward trend since 2022. Year over year, the sector added 71,700 positions, up 3.0%.
Within health care, child day-care services added 2,900 positions, nursing care facilities gained 2,100, and general medical and surgical hospitals increased by 1,900.
Finance and insurance grew for the fourth consecutive month, adding 5,500 positions in October for a cumulative gain of 16,700 since July. Public administration increased by 5,100 positions, its third straight monthly gain, while transportation and warehousing added 4,700 positions.
Administrative services shed jobs
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services declined for the second consecutive month, losing 5,200 positions in October following a 5,900 drop in September. Employment services accounted for 5,700 of the two-month decline.
Retail trade fell by 2,000 positions, wholesale trade dropped 1,600, and professional, scientific and technical services declined by 1,500.
Earnings and hours hold steady
Average weekly earnings reached $1,312 in October, up 2.2% from the same month last year but little changed from September. The year-over-year increase followed a 2.9% gain recorded in September.
Average weekly hours worked declined slightly to 33.3 hours from 33.4 hours in September, down 0.3% year over year.
Vacancy declines concentrated in four sectors
Finance and insurance saw the largest drop in job vacancies, falling by 4,500 positions to 14,300. Administrative and support services declined by 3,200 vacancies to 23,200 — a level comparable to January 2016 and the sector’s lowest vacancy rate since April 2015.
Real estate and rental operations lost 1,600 vacancies, while information and cultural industries dropped 1,100. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction was the only sector to record a monthly increase, adding 1,400 vacancies.
Year over year, health care and social assistance posted the largest decline in vacancy rate, falling 1.0 percentage points to 3.8%.
Provincial patterns show widespread cooling
Seven provinces recorded year-over-year declines in job vacancy rates, led by Saskatchewan (down 0.8 percentage points to 2.8%), Manitoba (down 0.7 points to 2.7%) and British Columbia (down 0.7 points to 3.0%).
Newfoundland and Labrador had 7.2 unemployed workers for every job vacancy, the highest ratio among provinces. Quebec had the lowest ratio at 2.3, followed by Saskatchewan at 2.5 and Manitoba at 2.7.
The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours measures employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer, excluding self-employed workers, business owners, and agricultural sector employees.
