(Montreal) The number of vacant positions in Quebec continues to decrease. It was 152,400 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
That's down 56,400 from the corresponding quarter in 2022, the Quebec Statistics Institute said Thursday.
While we often hear about the restaurant and retail industries, the health care and social assistance sector has the highest number of job vacancies. 40,500 for the fourth quarter of 2023.
This was followed by the retail trade sector, with 16,100 vacancies in the quarter, accommodation and food services, with 14,500 vacancies, and then the manufacturing sector, with 14,000 vacancies.
In fact, ISQ said that 56% of the vacancies were in these four industries this quarter.
These vacancies are mostly full-time positions, of which there are 116,000.
“Between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of positions vacant for 30 to 90 days decreased by 26.9% and the number of those vacant for at least 90 days decreased by 39.0%,” it underlines. Institute of Statistics of Quebec.
The average wage for vacant positions was $26.25 an hour, but it reached $32.86 an hour for all salaried jobs, states ISQ.
The ISQ emphasizes that “increases in average hourly wages offered for vacant positions have been significant” in specific sectors such as primary industries and public services, manufacturing, professional, scientific and technical services, as well as construction.
It's not just low-education positions that are vacant. Thus, 68,900 of these positions require training with a high school diploma or less, 54,300 require post-secondary training, and 29,200 require university training.
As for the Quebec regions, the number of vacant positions decreased in 12 regions between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2023.
The decline was particularly marked in Montreal (-19,400), in Monterrey (-9700), in the national capital (-8400), in Laval (-3900) and in Chaudière-Appalaches (-3500), according to the Institut de Québec statistics.
About The Author
