In 2022, the number of job vacancies in Canada averaged 942,000, two and a half times the average of 377,000 observed in 2016. The substantial growth in the number of job vacancies observed during this period has brought to the forefront the concept of labour shortages, the notion that, in some sectors of the economy, there might be an insufficient number of workers available to fill vacant positions. Assessing whether there are enough workers to fill specific job vacancies is challenging because vacant positions have different skill requirements - minimum education, amount of experience... [+] Show more
In 2022, the number of job vacancies in Canada averaged 942,000, two and a half times the average of 377,000 observed in 2016. The substantial growth in the number of job vacancies observed during this period has brought to the forefront the concept of labour shortages, the notion that, in some sectors of the economy, there might be an insufficient number of workers available to fill vacant positions. Assessing whether there are enough workers to fill specific job vacancies is challenging because vacant positions have different skill requirements - minimum education, amount of experience, occupational and language skills - while workers may be competent in several occupations and have different skills, some of which are not captured in surveys.
One starting point is to compare the number of job vacancies requiring a given education level with the number of job seekers who have that education. This simple exercise allows one to answer the following questions: (1) In recent years, has the national number of job vacancies requiring a given education level exceeded the number of job seekers with such an education? (2) If so, in which regions has this greater number of job vacancies been observed? (3) If so, for which education levels has this greater number of job vacancies been observed?; This exercise offers a useful perspective for understanding the nature of the current labour market tightness. For example, it allows an assessment of the degree to which a lack of highly educated workers underlies the recruitment challenges faced by Canadian employers. Using data from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) and the Labour Force Survey from 2016 to 2022, this article answers the three questions outlined above.
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