Future of work

This report examines the growth of job vacancies in Canada from 2016 to 2022 and the workers available to fill these. The average number of job vacancies in 2022 was nearly 2.5 times higher than in 2016, raising concerns about labour shortages. The paper assesses these concerns by comparing the number of job vacancies requiring specific education levels with the number of job seekers who possess those qualifications.

Since 2016, the number of unemployed individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher has consistently exceeded the number of vacancies requiring these qualifications. Similarly, the number unemployed individuals with partial or complete post-secondary education surpassed the corresponding job vacancies.

In contrast, the number of job vacancies for candidates with a high school diploma or less has exceeded the number of unemployed individuals with such qualifications since the third quarter of 2021. Furthermore, all Canadian economic regions had more vacancies than unemployed individuals for these types of jobs.

The report concludes that the challenges faced by employers who seek highly educated individuals cannot be attributed to a national labour shortage. Instead, the mismatch is likely between the skills required by employers versus those possessed by job seekers. The degree to which job vacancies in low-skilled occupations can be attributed to labour shortages instead of relatively low-wage and few benefits remains an open question. Nuanced approaches are needed to address recruitment challenges while considering education levels and skill requirements.