More than 36% of vacancies remained unfilled in Q3 2022, according to the Ontario Financial Accountability Office, and more than 400,000 workers were absent due to illness or disability.
By Ghada Alsharif
Business Reporter
Tue., March 21, 2023
Long-term job vacancies in Ontario reached a record high in 2022 as hiring challenges continued to wreak havoc on the labour market, according to the province’s financial watchdog.
Of all job vacancies in Ontario, 36.3 per cent remained unfilled for 90 days or more in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Financial Accountability Office’s report on the province’s labour market performance last year, released on Tuesday.
And employment difficulties aren’t just local. Across the country, employers struggle to find workers. Recent Statistics Canada data shows nearly a million jobs unfilled in the third quarter of 2022. Demand for labour, economists say, is strong across most sectors as people retire and workers seek out higher paying jobs with better working conditions.
“If there’s a simple and effective way to fill vacancies, it’s to pay (workers) more,” says Robert Kavcic, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Adding to the strain in Ontario, a record 5.2 per cent of employees, some 404,100 workers, were absent from their jobs either a full week or part of a week due to illness or disability in 2022 as pandemic restrictions were lifted. This marks a 22 per cent jump over the 2017-2019 average, the report said.
Meanwhile, five of 16 Ontario industries operated with fewer employees last year, remaining below their pre-pandemic 2019 level of employment, including in food services, agriculture, business, transportation and warehousing.
At the same time, the FAO says employment rose by 338,300 jobs last year, which when combined with numbers from 2021, indicates the strongest two-year period of job gains on record.
A recent poll by business consulting firm Robert Half shows that half of Canadian workers intend to look for a new job within the first six months of 2023.
A higher salary, better benefits and more advancement opportunities were among the main reasons that respondents said they would be looking for a new gig.
According to a Robert Half survey of more than 1,100 workers in Canada, four in 10 do not feel fairly paid for their current role.
But for the second consecutive year, workers’ wage growth did not keep up with inflation, according to Tuesday’s FAO report. While the average hourly wage of Ontarians increased 4.2 per cent to $32.94 in 2022, it remained well below the 6.8 per cent inflation rate, the highest in 40 years.
At the same time there has been a big shift in workers’ attitudes since the start of the pandemic, says Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“A disproportionate share of the vacancies are in low wage industries that have very tough working conditions,” Block said. “Pandemic related shutdowns allowed people to get off the hamster wheel and evaluate where they were working and what their working conditions were.”
Many workers in public facing jobs — including accommodation and food services — where demand dropped during COVID-19 lockdowns or where the risk of infection was higher, left for employment in other sectors and have not returned.
“As we’ve seen, wage increases have not kept up with inflation,” Block said. And as inflation continues to drive up the cost of living and necessities “people are very hesitant to take on a job that isn’t going to pay the bills.”
Tue., March 21, 2023
Long-term job vacancies in Ontario reached a record high in 2022 as hiring challenges continued to wreak havoc on the labour market, according to the province’s financial watchdog.
Of all job vacancies in Ontario, 36.3 per cent remained unfilled for 90 days or more in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Financial Accountability Office’s report on the province’s labour market performance last year, released on Tuesday.
And employment difficulties aren’t just local. Across the country, employers struggle to find workers. Recent Statistics Canada data shows nearly a million jobs unfilled in the third quarter of 2022. Demand for labour, economists say, is strong across most sectors as people retire and workers seek out higher paying jobs with better working conditions.
“If there’s a simple and effective way to fill vacancies, it’s to pay (workers) more,” says Robert Kavcic, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Adding to the strain in Ontario, a record 5.2 per cent of employees, some 404,100 workers, were absent from their jobs either a full week or part of a week due to illness or disability in 2022 as pandemic restrictions were lifted. This marks a 22 per cent jump over the 2017-2019 average, the report said.
Meanwhile, five of 16 Ontario industries operated with fewer employees last year, remaining below their pre-pandemic 2019 level of employment, including in food services, agriculture, business, transportation and warehousing.
At the same time, the FAO says employment rose by 338,300 jobs last year, which when combined with numbers from 2021, indicates the strongest two-year period of job gains on record.
A recent poll by business consulting firm Robert Half shows that half of Canadian workers intend to look for a new job within the first six months of 2023.
A higher salary, better benefits and more advancement opportunities were among the main reasons that respondents said they would be looking for a new gig.
According to a Robert Half survey of more than 1,100 workers in Canada, four in 10 do not feel fairly paid for their current role.
But for the second consecutive year, workers’ wage growth did not keep up with inflation, according to Tuesday’s FAO report. While the average hourly wage of Ontarians increased 4.2 per cent to $32.94 in 2022, it remained well below the 6.8 per cent inflation rate, the highest in 40 years.
At the same time there has been a big shift in workers’ attitudes since the start of the pandemic, says Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“A disproportionate share of the vacancies are in low wage industries that have very tough working conditions,” Block said. “Pandemic related shutdowns allowed people to get off the hamster wheel and evaluate where they were working and what their working conditions were.”
Many workers in public facing jobs — including accommodation and food services — where demand dropped during COVID-19 lockdowns or where the risk of infection was higher, left for employment in other sectors and have not returned.
“As we’ve seen, wage increases have not kept up with inflation,” Block said. And as inflation continues to drive up the cost of living and necessities “people are very hesitant to take on a job that isn’t going to pay the bills.”
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