Canada is often viewed favorably— sometimes even idealized — by outsiders. This almost mythical image of Canada often extends to their politics and economy.
On that latter point, sure, Canada may only hold a fraction of the debt of the United States, but their job market isn’t all that robust. New statistics show the grander picture of vacant positions in Canada.
These statistics from Statistics Canada, found that of the 353,000 job vacancies in Canada in the fourth quarter of 2015, the vast majority were found in low-paying positions. Retail salespeople (nearly 29,000 vacancies) and food counter workers (over 21,000 vacancies) led the pack.
Customer service representatives, truck drivers, cashiers, food servers, and nurses also ranked prominently in terms of vacant positions. Nine of the 10 most vacant positions in Canada were deemed to entail low wages, which has helped shatter the belief that skilled positions are in extremely high demand.
In addition to most jobs being less desirable, Canada’s overall number of job vacancies fell from the third to fourth quarter of 2015. Vacant jobs only accounted for 2.3 percent of jobs in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 2.6 percent in the third quarter. This simply means there are less vacant jobs for job seekers to grab.
The province of British Columbia had the highest vacancy rate, while Quebec had the lowest.
