In October, payroll employment in retail trade increased by 4,200 (+0.2%), partially offsetting the decline in September (-8,400; -0.4%). Despite the October increase, overall payroll employment in the sector has generally trended downward since February 2024, with a net decline of 21,200 (-1.1%) over the period, according to recent data from Statistics Canada.
This net decline since February was concentrated in sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers (-9,000; -4.2%), building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-7,900; -5.5%) and clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers (-6,700; -3.2%), said the federal agency.
However, gains in payroll employment in several retail trade industries have dampened the overall downward trend since February. The gains over this period were concentrated in food and beverage retailers (+4,400; +0.8%), health and personal care retailers (+3,000; 1.4%) and motor vehicle and parts dealers (+2,300; +1.0%), it added.
“Job vacancies in retail trade declined by 5,700 (-12.1%) to 41,400 in October, their lowest level since April 2016 (40,600). The number of vacancies in the sector was down by 22,500 (-35.2%) on a year-over-year basis, and down by 71,300 (-63.3%) compared with the peak in December 2021 (112,700),” explained Statistics Canada.
“In October, the job vacancy rate (2.0%) in retail trade also reached the lowest rate since April 2016 (when it was also 2.0%). Month over month, the job vacancy rate in October 2024 was down 0.3 percentage points from September (2.3%) and 1.1 percentage points from October 2023 (3.1%).”
The job vacancy rate corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand.
In October, payroll employment in accommodation and food services (-3,500; -0.3%) declined for the second consecutive month, following a drop of 8,400 (-0.6%) in September, said the report.
“The cumulative declines in this sector in September and October were attributable to declines in full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places (-14,000; -1.4%). In October, this industry accounted for more than three-quarters (76.9%) of overall payroll employment in the accommodation and food services sector,” it said.
“On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment in accommodation and food services was down 13,700 (-1.0%) in October.”
Nationally, Statistics Canada said the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as “payroll employment” in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—fell by 21,100 (-0.1%) in October, following little change in September and August. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 125,800 (+0.7%) in October.
Meanwhile, job vacancies decreased by 15,000 (-2.8%) to 513,200 in October, following little change in September and a decrease of 16,700 (-3.1%) in August.
“In October, monthly payroll employment declines were recorded in 7 out of 20 sectors, led by manufacturing (-5,900; -0.4%), professional, scientific and technical services (-3,700; -0.3%) and accommodation and food services (-3,500; -0.3%),” noted the report.
“The declines in October were partially offset by gains in retail trade (+4,200; +0.2%), construction (+3,400; +0.3%), public administration (+3,300; +0.3%) and health care and social assistance (+3,300; +0.1%). The remaining nine sectors were little changed.
“Job vacancies decreased by 15,000 (-2.8%) to 513,200 in October, following little change in September and a decrease of 16,700 (-3.1%) in August. The number of job vacancies in October was down by nearly half (-48.9%) from the peak of over one million reached in May 2022. Compared to October 2023, job vacancies were down by 159,400 (-23.7%) in October 2024.”
The job vacancy rate was 2.9% in October, down by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month (3.0%) and down by 0.9 percentage points from October 2023 (3.8%), added StatsCan.
It said there were 2.8 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in October 2024, up from 2.7 in the previous month. Since October 2023, the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio rose from 1.8 to 2.8, reflecting the cooling of labour market conditions over this period.
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