(OTTAWA) The number of job vacancies fell slightly by 2.1% in March in Canada, or by 17,300, to 815,300, its lowest total since August 2021.

Statistics Canada says the cumulative declines in the number of vacancies have increased to 56,300 since last January, or 6.5%, and to 187,900, or 18.7% since the peak of more than one million positions. vacancies reached in May 2022.

The federal agency says that in March, decreases in the number of vacancies were recorded in administrative, support, waste management and sanitation services, as well as in transportation and warehousing.

On the other hand, there was an increase in the number of vacancies by 8,600 in educational services.

Statistics Canada reports that the number of job vacancies was little changed in most other sectors in March, including those that contribute the most to the total number of job vacancies. This was the case for health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, retail trade, construction and manufacturing.

The federal agency also observed that the number of vacancies varied little in all provinces in March.

As for the job vacancy rate, which corresponds to the number of vacant positions expressed as a proportion of total labor demand, it fell by 0.2 percentage points in March in Canada to stand at 4.5 %, the lowest rate since June 2021.

The highest rates were recorded in March in Prince Edward Island (5.3%), British Columbia (5.2%) and Quebec (5%).