A graph depicting job vacancy rate from 2015 through to the second quarter of 2021 for Canada (red), British Columbia (dark green) and Vancouver Island (light green). Data was not collected for Q2 and Q3 of 2020 due to the pandemic, hence the gap on the graph. Source: Statistics Canada 14-10-0325-01.
According to data recently published by Statistics Canada, there were a record high 731, 900 vacancy jobs nationally in the second quarter of 2021.
Canada’s job vacancy rate, measured as the percentage of vacant positions compared to all positions, was also the highest ever recorded, at 4.6 per cent.
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British Columbia’s job vacancy rate of 5.4 per cent was the highest among the provinces, while Vancouver Island’s rate of 6.7 per cent was among the highest of any economic region in Canada.
While the market has since improved — Canada gained 94, 000 jobs in July and 90, 000 in August, seasonally adjusted — many businesses continue to be short staffed.
This situation is the result of a “perfect storm” caused by three trends driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, explained Mary Ruth Snyder, executive director of the Campbell River and District Chamber of Commerce.
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“At the beginning of the pandemic, there was an immediate closure of a number of businesses such as restaurants, retail and tourism, right across Canada — and a lot of those people went on to the government support, ” she said.
The first affected those towards the end of their careers; six months or so into the pandemic, those who were a few years before their scheduled retirement decided to leave their jobs early.
“A number of people, who found themselves laid off indefinitely, decided they were in a job that they didn’t love and that they weren’t passionate about, so they left that job altogether, ” she said.
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The third impact of shutdowns is some people turned to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) — and the modified EI program that replaced it — have not yet turned to employment, she said. This federal program offers up to $2, 000 per month and is slated to continue until Oct. 23.
On Vancouver Island, and especially Campbell River, these labour trends were compounded by increased demand in the housing market. As more people moved to the Island, rental and housing prices jumped, thereby pricing some potential workers out of the market.
“You’ve got all these people that retired across Canada, and many are moving to Campbell River, so that has exacerbated the additional problem we have with housing and the demand for housing on Vancouver Island, ” she said.
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The conclusion at the end of October of the modified EI program that replaced CERB will help the situation, but Snyder estimates those choosing to return to the job market represent only a third of who were lost.
One way to help the situation is to streamline certification processes and enhance support for language programs for newcomers, but this will take time. But despite these possibilities, there are no easy, short-term fixes to the current job vacancy problem, she said.Indeed has compiled a list of the highest-paying, most in-demand jobs in Vancouver, BC as well as the top jobs in British Columbia and Canada.Photo via skynesher / Getty Images
Indeed, a global employment website, notes that salary is the first consideration for many people who are considering a new job. But the pandemic has revamped the job market. Many high-paying industries see jobsfill quickly while others have seen extensive job loss.
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The company notes, however, that many industries arenow on the lookout for talent. In particular, there are talent shortages in skilled-based, high-paying industries.
If you live in B.C., yourbest bet for securing a high-paying position is in software engineering. In Vancouver specifically, half theroles (50 per cent) for senior software engineersremain open on the platformfor over 60 days. The lucrative roles also command an average salary of over $100, 000, too.
But it isn't only senior software engineers that make the big bucks. Software engineers who aren't in senior roles also make close to $100, 000, taking in a mean salary of $84, 809 in Vancouver. Nearly half of the listings (46 per cent) for thesejobs stay on the job site for over two months.
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Another computer science careeris Indeed's third most in-demand, high-paying job in the city: software architect. About 40 per cent of these job listings stay on the platform for over two months and the average salary is $96, 169.
The third and fourth most sought-after candidates in high-paying fields are front end developers and full stack developers. Product and projectmanagers also crack Vancouver's top 10in-demand, high-salary careers.
The data listed represent roles that have been open for longer than 60 days in 2021 on Indeed’s website. While job postings can be opened for longer than 60 days, the companyused this measure as a proxy for difficult hiring.
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Curious to see how Vancouver'sjob market compares to B.C. and Canada? Check out thetop fivein-demand, high-paying jobs in the province in the country.
Here are top 5 in-demand, high-paying jobs in British Columbia Feb 14, 2022 4:59 PM Here is how much it costs to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Metro Vancouver this January Jan 7, 2022 4:09 PM Here is how much it costs to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Metro Vancouver this February Feb 3, 2022 11:05 AMA number I have been watching fairly closely is the job vacancy rate. It comes from StatCan’s Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS), and is updated quarterly. It is one of several surveys that complement the Labour Force Survey (LFS) that tends to receive a lot of attention. But the LFS is missing some important aspects of the labour market. I have been pushing JVWS data on numerous occasions, so I wanted to do a quick post to add a little more context. This is also a good opportunity to mix in data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) and the Canadian Income Survey (CIS).
The LFS reports employment (and unemployment) numbers. Often this is used as a stand-in for the number of jobs, but the LFS is an imperfect proxy for two reasons.
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Unfortunately the JVWS is not available at the CMA level, only at economic regions. For Vancouver that means the economic region of the Lower Mainland-Southwest, which spans the census districts of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Squamish-Lillooet, and contains Metro Vancouver. The economic region for Toronto consists of Toronto, Peel, York and Durham which misses part of Metro Toronto and contains some parts outside of Metro Toronto.
The rate in the Lower Mainland-Southwest with a job vacancy rate of 4.90% immediately jumps out, it’s the only economic region with a job vacancy rate above 4%. We zoom into the area for geographic reference of the extent of the economic region.
There is a fair amount of seasonal volatility in the data, especially for Prince Edward Island and the other maritime provinces. The sharp diversion of BC from the rest of Canada is very obvious, with the rest of Canada in the 1.5% to 3% band while B.C. showed increasing rates that are now far above that of any other province.
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Looking at the top 4 economic regions and Canada overall drives home the point how extraordinary the job vacancy rate in the Vancouver area is.
This rise in job vacancy over a fairly short period of time is testament of the growth of the BC economy, and it complements a parallel trend in LFS data.
We see that the Vancouver economic region of Lower Mainland-Southwest has the lowest unemployment rate. On the other hand, the economic downturn in Calgary and slow recovery is also clearly visible, where we focus on the same timeframe that JVWS data is available.
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Looking at participation rates, Calgary still stands out with participation rates significantly above the Canadian average. The other economic regions are tracking quite closely, with the Vancouver region gaining ground.
This begs the question on the impact on incomes of the employed population, as well as the wages offered for the vacant jobs.
The (real) average wage has increased in all areas except Montréal, but the increase in Calgary has been much steeper than that in Vancouver, showing that the job vacancy rate is not the main driver of changes in average wages offered. The type of vacant jobs is an obvious candidate to have a large impact on the wages.
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Time to fold in Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) data. Unfortunately that is only available at the provincial level, so it’s not the best match for our previous data that was focused on economic regions. But it should give a rough indication to how vacancies in different sectors contribute to overall vacancies and how they drive the average offered hourly wage. Here we resort to annual data as samples tend to get too thin for reliable finer temporal data. As a note of caution, this data excludes some sectors. More specifically
Industrial aggregate covers all industrial sectors except those primarily involved in agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organisations and the military personnel of the defence services, federal, provincial
