The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer fell by 57,400 (-0.3%) nationally in September, following little change in August. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 94,900 (+0.5%) in September.

Construction was one of nine sectors to report payroll employment declines in September. The industry shed 5,700 jobs, or 0.5% of total employment.

Also reporting losses were retail trade (-13,200; -0.7%), accommodation and food services (-9,100; -0.7%), other services (except public administration) (-7,600; -1.3%), and professional, scientific and technical services (-5,700; -0.5%).

Construction’s employment drop follows two consecutive months of little variation and a drop of 3,600, or -0.3% in June. From May to September, payroll employment in the sector recorded a net decrease of 8,300 (-0.7%).

The overall payroll employment decline in construction from May to September was concentrated in heavy and civil engineering construction (-4,600; -2.6%) and specialty trade contractors (-3,100; -0.4%). Over the same period, payroll employment in non-residential building construction fell by 700 (-0.6%), while residential building construction was essentially unchanged.

Despite the net decline from May to September, payroll employment in the overall sector was up by 3,100 (+0.3%) on a year-over-year basis in September.

Job vacancies edge up

The latest data from Statistics Canada also finds that job vacancies edged up to 528,200 in September, following little change in the previous month.

On a year-over-year basis, vacancies were down by 116,400 (-18.1%) in September, while total labour demand—which corresponds to the sum of filled and unfilled positions—was up by 0.2%.

The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—was 3.0% in September, up by 0.1 percentage points from August (2.9%) after six consecutive months of decline.

There were 2.7 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in September, down from 2.8 in August, reflecting a decrease in the number of unemployed people (-30,800) from August, according to the Labour Force Survey. This was the first decrease in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio after six consecutive monthly increases.

The number of job vacancies increased in manufacturing (+3,600; +11.2%), information and cultural industries (+3,400; +57.4%), and utilities (+700; +32.9%). These increases were largely offset by decreases in finance and insurance (-4,800; -20.5%) and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-3,600; -12.0%).

Year over year, vacancies declined in 13 of 20 sectors, with the largest decreases in health care and social assistance (-20,800; -15.6%), retail trade (-17,100; -26.3%), and accommodation and food services (-16,200; -22.7%).

Construction saw its job vacancies decline by 13,435 compared with a year ago.