New data shows that job vacancies are up all over the country, and in the construction sector in particular.

Statistics Canada reports that there were a record-high 731,900 job vacancies across the country in the second quarter of 2021. That figure is 25.8 percent (or 150,300 vacancies) higher than in the second quarter of 2019.

Construction was among those sectors to record significant increases this year. Vacancies in the industry rose by 19,900 (+46.7 percent) over two years to reach 62,600 in the second quarter of 2021. That figure is the highest on record since Statistics Canada began tracking sectoral data.

Increases were highest among trade contractors, where vacancies rose by 14,300, or 53 percent, followed by the construction of buildings subsector (+4,400; +40.8 percent).

Construction trade helpers and labourers (+8,900; +74.8 percent), carpenters (+3,300; +65.9 percent) as well as electricians (except industrial and power system) (+1,700; +109 percent) accounted for a large portion of the rise in vacancies in construction.

Demand for workers is rising, particularly as the total investment in building construction continues to increase, and industry payroll carries on beyond its pre-pandemic levels. Amid these demand factors, the unemployed-to-job vacancy ratio for construction fell to 1.3 in the second quarter of 2021.

According to results from the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, more than 35 percent of construction businesses expected that recruiting skilled employees would be an obstacle to growth.

Statistics Canada’s data showed that the health care and social assistance sector had the highest two-year increase in job vacancies from 2019 to 2021 at 40,8000, or 59.9 percent. The increase brought the number of vacancies in the sector to 108,800, representing one in seven job vacancies in Canada.

Meanwhile, job vacancies in all provinces from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021. The largest increases were recorded in Quebec (+53,700; +38.3 percent) and Ontario (+51,300; +24.1 percent).

The job vacancy rate also increased in all provinces, and in the second quarter was highest in British Columbia (5.4 percent) and Quebec (5.3 percent).

Featured image: Across the country and across all sectors, there was a record high number of job vacancies in the second quarter of 2021. (Statistics Canada)