Online job postings in B.C. have fallen steadily through most of 2023, signalling an ease in the tightness of the province’s labour market, according to a new report.
The Canadian Hiring Index released last week by the Conference Board of Canada showed job postings in B.C. have been rising since the pandemic and reached a peak in late 2022, followed by a continued decline.
Although August saw a slight increase in job postings in B.C. compared with July, the year-over-year number dropped by 15 per cent and was in line with pre-pandemic levels at 40,808 job postings.
“Declining labour market tightness suggests that finding workers is becoming less of a challenge. At the same time, wage growth is decelerating, slowly but surely,” reads the think tank’s report.
The report noted that while tightness in B.C.’s labour market is easing, talent acquisition and retention may remain challenging as the province historically has one of the tightest labour markets in the country.
“Housing affordability is a significant challenge in many parts of B.C. and acts as a push factor to an increasingly mobile labour force as well as would-be international and interprovincial migrants,” the report states.
Lower hiring activity is also translating into weak employment growth, particularly in construction and in-person services in the province, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the total number of job postings across Canada increased in August after four months of decline. All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan saw fewer job postings compared with a year ago.
Job postings were down more than 10 per cent annually nationwide among most occupations. The only occupation category that saw an annual increase in job postings was education, law, social, community and government services, which remained close to the peak recorded in spring 2022.
Manufacturing and utilities (-33 per cent), natural and applied sciences (-24 per cent), sales and service (-18 per cent) and trades, transport and equipment operators (-18 per cent) experienced the biggest declines in national job postings.
“Given our near-term forecast of slowing economic growth, we do not expect to see a sustained rebound in labour demand until economic conditions brighten,” reads the report.
