Canada Sees Increase in Payroll Employment and Decline in Job Vacancies in July 2024

In July 2024, payroll employment in Canada increased by 32,800 jobs, a 0.2% rise from the previous month. This follows a decline of 22,900 jobs (-0.1%) in June and five consecutive monthly increases from January to May. Year-over-year, payroll employment rose by 157,700 jobs (+0.9%).

Job vacancies decreased by 22,400 (-4.1%) to 526,900 in July, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. The number of job vacancies in July was nearly half (-47.5%) of the peak reached in May 2022.

The health care and social assistance sector saw the largest increase in payroll employment, adding 17,600 jobs (+0.7%). Public administration and retail trade also saw gains, with increases of 8,000 (+0.6%) and 2,300 (+0.1%) jobs, respectively. Conversely, the manufacturing sector experienced a decline of 6,200 jobs (-0.4%), followed by construction (-2,400 jobs; -0.2%) and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-2,400 jobs; -0.3%).

Average weekly earnings in Canada were $1,267.54 in July 2024, reflecting a 4.5% increase from the previous year. Average weekly hours worked remained relatively unchanged but were up 0.6% year-over-year to 33.5 hours.

The unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio increased for the fifth consecutive month, with 2.7 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in July 2024, up from 2.6 in June.