Job vacancies were little changed in the fourth quarter of 2025 at 495,100, following three straight quarters of decline beginning with the first quarter of 2025, according to a recent report by Statistics Canada.
Year over year, job vacancies were down by 8.9% (-48,100) in the fourth quarter. This was the smallest proportional year-over-year decline since the fourth quarter of 2022 (-6.4%), said the federal agency.
“Job vacancies rose for full-time occupations (+5,100; +1.4%) and fell for part-time occupations (-4,300; -3.4%) in the fourth quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, job vacancies held steady for both permanent and temporary positions. Despite little variation in the number of vacancies, total labour demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions) rose in the fourth quarter (+26,500; +0.1%), as payroll employment increased (+25,700; +0.1%),” it said.
“The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—held steady at 2.8% for the third straight quarter. The job vacancy rate had previously declined steadily from the record high of 5.6% reached in the second quarter of 2022.
“The proportion of long-term vacancies—vacancies for which recruitment efforts have been ongoing for 90 days or more—across Canada was 28.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 4.1 percentage point decrease from the fourth quarter of 2024 (32.6%) (not seasonally adjusted). This indicates that employers had fewer difficulties filling available positions compared with a year earlier.”
Statistics Canada said the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio—the number of unemployed persons per job vacancy—fell from 3.2 to 3.1 in the fourth quarter of 2025, the first quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2022. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 6.8%, down from 7.0% in the third quarter of 2025.
“In the fourth quarter of 2025, job vacancies increased in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (+3,800; +4.3%), in business, finance and administration occupations (+3,300; +5.0%) and in occupations in manufacturing and utilities (+1,100; +6.3%). Meanwhile, decreases were recorded in sales and service occupations (-4,100; -2.8%) and in legislative and senior management occupations (-200; -27.8%),” added Statistics Canada.
“On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down in 8 of the 10 broad occupational groups in the fourth quarter, led by health occupations (-13,600; -17.0%), sales and service occupations (-9,500; -6.2%) and trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (-7,200; -7.2%). Year over year, job vacancies were little changed in natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations and occupations in manufacturing and utilities.”
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