Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, June 2022
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Released: 2022-08-25
$1,159.01
June 2022
3.5% 
(12-month change)
$1,137.13
June 2022
4.4%
(12-month change)
$978.27
June 2022
1.8%
(12-month change)
$1,026.43
June 2022
3.7%
(12-month change)
$1,066.90
June 2022
5.5%
(12-month change)
$1,105.28
June 2022
4.2%
(12-month change)
$1,179.61
June 2022
2.7%
(12-month change)
$1,055.70
June 2022
3.0%
(12-month change)
$1,139.57
June 2022
3.7%
(12-month change)
$1,257.07
June 2022
3.3%
(12-month change)
$1,165.15
June 2022
4.5%
(12-month change)
$1,360.59
June 2022
6.6%
(12-month change)
$1,538.80
June 2022
1.9%
(12-month change)
$1,530.50
June 2022
3.5%
(12-month change)
The number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured by the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) as payroll employment—rose by 114,600 (+0.7%) in June. Gains were spread across six provinces, with Ontario (+43,000; +0.6%) and Quebec (+28,800; +0.7%) reporting the largest increases.
Services-producing sector drives the overall payroll employment increase
Payroll employment in the services-producing sector rose by 88,000 (+0.6%) in June. Nearly all services-producing sectors reported an increase, led by educational services (+26,400; +1.9%), accommodation and food services (+16,600; +1.3%), professional, scientific and technical services (+8,800; +0.8%), and health care and social assistance (+8,400; +0.4%). Public administration (-3,900; -0.3%) was the only services-producing sector to decline in June.
In the goods-producing sector, the number of payroll employees increased by 9,700 (+0.3%) in June, led by construction (+7,800; +0.7%) and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (+1,900; +0.9%).
Chart 1
Payroll employment bounces back in June after declining in May
Payroll employment in accommodation and food services increases for the fifth consecutive month
Payroll employment in the accommodation and food services sector rose at a faster pace in June (+16,600; +1.3%) than in May (+10,100; +0.8%). Payroll employment in the sector rose in eight provinces, led by Ontario (+8,000; +1.8%) and Quebec (+4,300; +1.7%), while Alberta and British Columbia reported little change. Two-thirds of the industries within the sector reported national gains, led by full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places (+7,800; +0.8%).
In June, payroll employment in the sector was 91,000 (-6.8%) below its pre-pandemic level, the closest this sector has been to its February 2020 level. Accommodation and food services has remained one of seven sectors yet to return to its pre-pandemic level, and recreational vehicle parks and recreational camps (+1,900; +11.3%), along with rooming and boarding houses (+400; +5.0%), were the only two industries within the sector where payroll employment in June was above pre-pandemic levels.
Payroll employment increases in health care and social assistance
Payroll employment in the health care and social assistance sector rose by 8,400 (+0.4%) in June, following little change in May. Five provinces showed monthly increases in payroll employment, led by Quebec (+5,000; +0.9%), Ontario (+4,200; +0.5%), and Alberta (+1,200; +0.5%), while New Brunswick (-1,400; -2.3%) and Nova Scotia (-1,300; -1.9%) reported declines.
Within the sector, out-patient care centres (+2,100; +1.3%), individual and family services (+1,700; +0.9%), home health care services (+1,500; +1.9%), and child daycare services (+1,500; +0.9%) reported the largest payroll employment increases.
Payroll employment gains in construction partially offset losses in May
Payroll employment in construction rose by 7,800 (+0.7%) in June, partially offsetting a loss in May (-12,900; -1.1%). Gains were spread across 6 out of the 10 industries within the sector, with other specialty trade contractors (+2,000; +1.6%), non-residential building construction (+1,500; +1.3%), and foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors (+1,400; +1.1%) accounting for over half of the increase in June.
In June, four provinces reported payroll employment increases in construction, with Ontario (+4,600; +1.2%) showing the largest gains, followed by British Columbia (+1,600; +0.9%), Alberta (+1,200; +0.7%), and Manitoba (+1,100; +3.1%).
Average weekly earnings rise on a year-over-year basis
Average weekly earnings increased 3.5% (to $1,159) in June on a year-over-year basis, outpacing the growth seen in May (+2.5%). Year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings has trended upwards since June 2021. In general, changes in the earnings growth can be the result of a number of factors, including changes in wages and changes in the composition of employment and average hours worked each week.
Year-over-year average weekly earnings increases were seen across nine provinces, led by New Brunswick (+5.5% to $1,067), with little change observed in Prince Edward Island.
Nationally, average weekly earnings increased faster in the goods-producing sector (+6.1% to $1,437) than in the services-producing sector (+3.0% to $1,102) on a year-over-year basis. The largest growth in the goods-producing sector was in manufacturing (+6.9% to $1,273), while professional, scientific and technical services (+10.8% to $1,657) had the largest earnings increase in the services-producing sector.
Average weekly hours worked unchanged
Average weekly hours worked were unchanged in June compared with a month earlier and were down 0.6% from June 2021. Accommodation and food services (+2.1%) and construction (+1.1%) reported monthly increases.
Job vacancies reach a new high
Vacancies increased 3.2% (+32,200) in June, and employers in Canada were actively recruiting for more than one million (1,037,900) vacant positions for the third consecutive month (not seasonally adjusted). Total labour demand (the sum of filled and vacant positions) reached a record high of nearly 17.7 million in June, 1.4% (+238,700) higher than in May and up 9.4% (+1,526,000) on a year-over-year basis. The job vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant positions as a proportion of all positions (vacant and filled), was 5.9% in June, matching the record-high rate reached in September 2021 and up from 4.9% in June 2021.
New data developed by Statistics Canada to remove seasonal variations suggest that recent month-over-month increases in job vacancies were not attributable to seasonal patterns, indicating that job vacancies have been trending upward since December 2020 after somewhat stabilizing in October and November 2020.
Chart 2
Job vacancies continue to increase
High job vacancies in health care and social assistance
Employers in the health care and social assistance sector were seeking to fill 149,700 vacant positions in June, little changed from the record high reached in March (147,500), but 40.8% (+43,400) higher than in June 2021. The job vacancy rate was 6.3% in the sector in June 2022.
Job vacancies increase in accommodation and food services and retail trade
In the accommodation and food services sector, vacancies increased 6.6% (+10,600 to 171,700) in June and were up 38.8% (+48,000) on a year-over-year basis. The job vacancy rate in the sector was 12.2%, more than double the all-sectors average.
In retail trade, vacancies rose 15.3% (+15,200 to 114,400) in June, despite payroll employment in the sector returning to its February 2020 pre-pandemic level for the first time (SEPH, seasonally adjusted). Vacancies were 22.5% (+21,000) higher than in June 2021, and the job vacancy rate was 5.4%.
Job vacancies remain elevated in several sectors
The number of job vacancies was little changed—but nonetheless remained elevated—in construction (89,200); manufacturing (82,800); professional, scientific and technical services (72,200); transportation and warehousing (49,000); and finance and insurance (41,200) in June.
Job vacancies exceed the number of unemployed persons in four provinces
Nationally, the unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio reached a record low of 1.0 in June, meaning that there was one unemployed person for each vacant job. This ratio was 1.9 in June 2021.
Infographic 1
Unemployment declines as job vacancies increase
The unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio was below 1.0 in four provinces in June, namely in Quebec (0.6), British Columbia (0.7), Saskatchewan (0.8), and Manitoba (0.9). Newfoundland and Labrador (2.7) continued to have the highest unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio among provinces.
Next release
July data for the SEPH and the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) will be released on September 29, 2022. Second quarter of 2022 (April to June) JVWS results, which will also provide insights into job vacancies by subsector, vacancies by occupation and offered wages, will be released on September 20, 2022.
Sustainable Development Goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. This release will be used in helping to measure the following goals:
Note to readers
Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours
The key objective of the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) is to provide a monthly portrait of the level of earnings, employment and hours worked, by detailed industry, at the national, provincial and territorial levels.
Payroll employment, as measured by the SEPH, refers to the number of employees receiving pay or benefits (employment income) during a given month. The survey excludes the self-employed, owners and partners of unincorporated businesses and professional practices, and employees in the agricultural sector.
SEPH estimates are produced by integrating information from three sources: a census of approximately 1 million payroll deduction records provided by the Canada Revenue Agency; the Business Payrolls Survey, which collects data from a sample of 15,000 establishments; and administrative records of federal, provincial and territorial public administration employment, provided by these levels of government.
Estimates of average weekly earnings and hours worked are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. This analysis focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level. Payroll employment estimates are based on a census of administrative records and are not subject to sampling variability.
With each release of SEPH data, data for the preceding month are revised. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
Statistics Canada also produces employment estimates from its Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is a monthly household survey, the main objective of which is to divide the working-age population into three mutually exclusive groups: the employed (including the self-employed), the unemployed and those not in the labour force. This survey is the official source for the unemployment rate, and it collects data on the sociodemographic characteristics of all those in the labour market.
As a result of conceptual and methodological differences, estimates of changes from the SEPH and the LFS differ occasionally. However, the trends in the data are similar. For a more in-depth discussion of the conceptual differences between employment measures from the LFS and the SEPH, refer to Section 8 of the Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (72-203-G).
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitate month-to-month comparisons because the effects of seasonal variations are removed. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Non-farm payroll employment data are for all hourly and salaried employees and for the "other employees" category, which includes piece-rate and commission-only employees.
Unless otherwise specified, average weekly hours data are for hourly and salaried employees only and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
All earnings data include overtime and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a NAICS code. Earnings data are based on gross taxable payroll before source deductions. Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly earnings by the number of employees.
Job Vacancy and Wage Survey
Beginning with the release of October 2020 data, preliminary monthly estimates from the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) are published on a monthly basis. These estimates provide more timely information on the number of job vacancies and the job vacancy rate by province and by industrial sector.
JVWS collection is done on a quarterly basis. The quarterly sample of business locations is allocated to the three collection months of the quarter, approximately balanced by province and by industrial sector across each of the three months. This allows both quarterly and monthly estimates to be produced.
The JVWS also provides comprehensive quarterly data on job vacancies by industrial sector and detailed occupation for Canada and the provinces, territories and economic regions; offered hourly wages; and job vacancy characteristics. Quarterly data for the second and third quarters of 2020 are unavailable because survey operations were temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. More information about the concepts and use of data from the JVWS is available in the Guide to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (75-514-G).
Preliminary monthly estimates are produced for job vacancies, job vacancy rates and payroll employment using available responses from business locations sampled in the corresponding reference month. The reference period for the JVWS is the first day of the respective month.
These preliminary monthly estimates are revised and finalized when the corresponding quarterly estimates are released or shortly thereafter. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
JVWS estimates are not seasonally adjusted. Therefore, month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter comparisons should be interpreted with caution as they may reflect seasonal movements. New experimental data adjusted for seasonality are derived from ongoing work to develop seasonally adjusted JVWS time series. Further information on this ongoing work is available on request.
While JVWS employment is calibrated to the SEPH, SEPH payroll employment and JVWS preliminary monthly employment figures may differ because of calibration grouping and differences in scope and reference period.
Labour Force Survey data used in this Daily release to calculate the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratios are non-seasonally adjusted (unless otherwise indicated).
Real-time data tables
Real-time data tables 14-10-0357-01, 14-10-0358-01, 14-10-0331-01 and 14-10-0332-01 will be updated on September 12.
Next release
Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies for July will be released on September 29.
Products
More information about the concepts and use of the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours is available in the Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (72-203-G).
The product "Earnings and payroll employment in brief: Interactive app" (14-20-0001) is now available. This interactive data visualization application provides a comprehensive picture of the Canadian labour market using the most recent data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours. The estimates are seasonally adjusted and available by province and largest industrial sector. Historical estimates going back 10 years are also included. The interactive application allows users to quickly and easily explore and personalize the information presented. Combine multiple provinces and industrial sectors to create your own labour market domains of interest.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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