Construction reports employment gains in December
New data from Statistics Canada finds that construction was among six sectors in the economy to report gains in payroll and employment in December.
The data finds that the number of employees that received pay and benefits from their employers increased by 31,600 (+0.2%) in December. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up by 223,500 (+1.3%) in December 2023.
Construction was among a handful of sectors to record monthly payroll employment gains in December 2023. Those increases were partially offset by declines in four sectors. The remaining 10 sectors were little changed.
Payroll employment in construction rose by 2,700 (+0.2%) in December, following an increase of 1,200 (+0.1%) in November. Despite these increases, payroll employment in construction was down by 8,300 (-0.7%) in December from its peak recorded in July. On a year-over-year basis, employment in the sector was up by 8,700 (+0.7%) in December.
The specialty trade contractors subsector (+3,700; +0.5%) recorded a monthly increase in payroll employment in December, with gains recorded in three industries within the subsector: building equipment contractors (+1,600; +0.5%), other specialty trade contractors (+1,200; +0.9%)—those engaged in site preparation activities and other specialized trade activities such as crane rental with operator—and foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors (+1,000; +0.8%). These gains were partially offset by declines in heavy and civil engineering construction (-1,200; -0.7%).
Payroll employment in construction of buildings, including non-residential and residential building construction, held steady in December.
Job vacancies hold steady in December
Meanwhile, job vacancies reported across the country held steady at 637,400 in December, the third consecutive month of little change. Vacancies were down by 209,200 (-24.7%) compared with December 2022, and down by 365,900 (-36.5%) from the record high of 1,003,200 reached in May 2022.
Total labour demand, which corresponds to the sum of filled and unfilled positions, declined by 0.4% in December 2023 compared with the previous month, and was little changed from December 2022.
The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—was little changed at 3.6% in December 2023, and was just above the peak observed in January 2020 (3.5%) before the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were 2.0 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in December 2023, increasing from the ratio of 1.9 recorded in each of the previous three months.
Retail trade (-9,400; -13.8%) was the only sector to record a decline in job vacancies in December. In contrast, there were more vacancies in educational services (+3,800; +19.5%) and utilities (+1,000; +33.4%), and little change in the remaining 15 sectors.