Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, May 2023
Released: 2023-07-27
$1,200.75
May 2023
3.6% 
(12-month change)
$1,179.79
May 2023
2.4%
(12-month change)
$997.86
May 2023
4.1%
(12-month change)
$1,064.63
May 2023
5.5%
(12-month change)
$1,097.03
May 2023
2.7%
(12-month change)
$1,150.74
May 2023
3.8%
(12-month change)
$1,232.03
May 2023
3.2%
(12-month change)
$1,093.91
May 2023
4.7%
(12-month change)
$1,158.51
May 2023
1.9%
(12-month change)
$1,289.46
May 2023
3.0%
(12-month change)
$1,211.65
May 2023
4.5%
(12-month change)
$1,368.18
May 2023
3.2%
(12-month change)
$1,587.76
May 2023
2.0%
(12-month change)
$1,657.69
May 2023
7.4%
(12-month change)
The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employees" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—increased by 23,300 (+0.1%) in May, excluding federal government public administration. Meanwhile, the number of job vacancies declined by 26,000 (-3.3%) to 759,000 in May, continuing the steady downward trend observed over the past year.
In May, payroll employment in the federal government public administration increased by 106,600 (+39.4%), following a decline of 107,400 (-28.4%) in April. The decline in April was largely associated with the Public Service Alliance of Canada strike action and was expected to be temporary (see note below). Including the monthly gain in this subsector, the overall increase in national payroll employment was 129,900 (+0.7%) in May.
In addition to the overall gain in public administration (+106,200; +9.1%), seven sectors recorded monthly payroll employment increases, including health care and social assistance (+7,000; +0.3%), accommodation and food services (+2,500; +0.2%), arts, entertainment and recreation (+2,400; +0.8%) and professional, scientific and technical services (+1,500; +0.1%). These gains in May were partially mitigated by a decline in construction (-1,800; -0.2%).
Growth in overall payroll employment has moderated in recent months compared with the last four months of 2022 and early 2023. From September 2022 to January 2023, overall payroll employment generally trended upwards, with a cumulative gain of 279,700 (+1.6%). In comparison, growth from January to May was 112,200 (+0.6%).
Note – Public Service Alliance of Canada strike action in April
On April 19, Public Service Alliance of Canada members began strike action. In accordance with the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) concepts outlined in the Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, the definition of a "payroll employee" excludes persons who are on strike for the entirety of the SEPH reference week. The reference week for SEPH estimates is the last seven days of the reference month. As a result, the subsector of federal government public administration recorded a decline in payroll employment and an increase in average weekly earnings in April. The majority of these changes were expected to be temporary for the month of April and were reversed in May.
Chart 1
Payroll employment increases in May
Third consecutive monthly payroll employment increase in health care and social assistance
In May, payroll employment in health care and social assistance rose by 7,000 (+0.3%), following increases of 6,600 (+0.3%) in April and 5,700 (+0.3%) in March. In May, hospitals (+2,700; +0.4%) and ambulatory health care services (+2,200; +0.3%) accounted for over half of the monthly increase in payroll employment in the sector. The remainder of the monthly increase took place in the nursing and residential care facilities (+1,100; +0.2%) and social assistance (+1,000; +0.3%) subsectors.
Payroll employment in accommodation and food services increases on a monthly basis since January 2023
Payroll employment in accommodation and food services increased by 2,500 (+0.2%) in May, with a cumulative gain of 22,300 (+1.7%) since January 2023. Special food services—an industry mainly comprised of caterers and other mobile food services, representing roughly 5% of total payroll employment in accommodation and food services—recorded a monthly payroll employment increase of 1,100 (+1.6%), while full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places accounted for another 1,100 (+0.1%) in May.
Payroll employment growth in professional, scientific and technical services slows in May
Payroll employment in professional, scientific and technical services slightly increased (+1,500; +0.1%) in May. Growth in the sector slowed in 2023, with payroll employment growth averaging 0.2% per month since January compared with 0.7% per month in 2022.
In May 2023, four of the nine industries that comprise the professional, scientific and technical services sector recorded payroll employment increases. The largest increases took place in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services (+800; +0.5%) and architectural, engineering and related services (+600; +0.3%).
Payroll employment in computer systems design and related services was little changed in May. Since January 2021, payroll employment growth in this industry (+36.7%) has been nearly three times higher than the industrial aggregate growth (+13.1%). However, payroll employment growth in computer systems design and related services has slowed more recently. From November 2022 to May 2023, a cumulative gain of 8,000 (+2.1%) was recorded in the industry, compared with a cumulative gain of 33,400 (+9.6%) from April 2022 to October 2022.
Payroll employment declines in construction on a monthly basis
In May, payroll employment in construction decreased by 1,800 (-0.2%), offsetting a net increase of 1,200 (+0.1%) from February to April. The decrease in the month was attributed to a decline in specialty trade contractors (-1,500; -0.2%). Meanwhile, payroll employment was little changed in May in non-residential and residential building construction, as well as in heavy and civil engineering construction.
Slightly slower monthly growth in average weekly earnings in May
Month over month, average weekly earnings were up 0.4% to $1,201 in May, compared with a 0.5% increase in April. Growth in health care and social assistance (+2.4% to $1,061) was dampened by a decline in information and cultural industries (-3.2% to $1,577) and slower growth in all other sectors.
Year over year, average weekly earnings were up 3.6% in May. Growth was driven by gains in the sectors of forestry and logging (+10.0% to $1,404), utilities (+6.7% to $2,155) and other services (except public administration) (+6.5% to $1,025). In general, growth in average weekly earnings can reflect a range of factors, including changes in wages, composition of employment and hours worked.
Average weekly hours worked were 33.2 hours in May, essentially unchanged from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, growth in employment (+3.2%) outpaced growth in total hours worked (+2.5%), resulting in a 0.6% decline in average weekly hours worked.
Job vacancies continue to decline in May
The number of job vacancies declined by 26,000 (-3.3%) to 759,000 in May, continuing a steady downward trend over the past year. Compared with the peak of just over 1 million (1,003,200) unfilled positions reached in May 2022, job vacancies were down by 244,300 (-24.3%) in May 2023.
Job vacancies decreased in six sectors in May, led by health care and social assistance (-12,500; -8.5%) and accommodation and food services (-12,300; -11.1%). Concurrently, job vacancies increased in three sectors, led by manufacturing (+3,700; +6.7%) and finance and insurance (+3,000; +11.3%). On a year-over-year basis, the health care and social assistance sector remained among the few sectors that did not record a significant decline in job vacancies.
The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand (the sum of filled and unfilled positions)—edged down by 0.1 percentage points to a two-year low of 4.3% in May. On a year-over-year basis, the job vacancy rate was down by 1.5 percentage points, resulting from declines in vacancies (-244,300; -24.3%) combined with gains in payroll employment (+410,900; +2.5%).
Infographic 1
Job vacancies and job vacancy rate remain on a downward trend in May
In May, there were 1.4 unemployed persons for each job vacancy, little changed from the previous month, but up from the low of 1.0 recorded in June and July 2022. The number of unemployed persons (measured in the Labour Force Survey) increased by 34,800 in May 2023, following five months of little change.
Infographic 2
Unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio remains on an upward trend as job vacancies continue to decline in May
Largest proportional decline in vacancies in accommodation and food services
The number of unfilled positions in accommodation and food services declined by 12,300 (-11.1%) to 98,100 in May, the largest proportional decline of any sector. The decline in May followed a cumulative decrease of 9,800 (-8.1%) in February, March and April. The job vacancy rate in the sector was 7.0% in May, down from 7.8% in April. Despite this decrease, the job vacancy rate in this sector remained the highest across all sectors in May.
Job vacancies decrease in health care and social assistance
In the health care and social assistance sector, the number of vacant positions decreased by 12,500 (-8.5%) to 134,500 in May, following little change in March and April. Over the six-month period preceding May, the number of vacancies in the sector ranged from 137,200 in November 2022 to 151,200 in January 2023, while payroll employment has increased by 30,600 (+1.4%) since November 2022.
Retail trade records the lowest number of vacancies since April 2021
There were 78,700 job vacancies in retail trade in May, down by 6,900 (-8.0%) from April and by 30,700 (-28.1%) from May 2022. The number of unfilled positions in the sector in May 2023 was the lowest since April 2021 (77,500). The job vacancy rate in retail trade was 3.8% in May 2023, down by 0.3 percentage points from the previous month and by 1.4 percentage points from May 2022. The year-over-year drop in the job vacancy rate in May 2023 was entirely led by the fall in job vacancies (-6,900; -8.0%), as payroll employment (2,010,800) in the sector was little changed over this period.
Job vacancies up in manufacturing for the first time since September 2022
In manufacturing, the number of unfilled positions increased (+3,700, +6.7%) to 59,000 in May. This increase followed a cumulative decrease of 25,700 (-31.8%) from September 2022 to April 2023.
The number of vacancies rose in two other sectors in May: finance and insurance (+3,000 to 29,900) and management of companies and enterprises (+1,000 to 3,600).
Job vacancies fall in Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
In Quebec, the number of vacancies fell by 10,800 (-5.3%) to 193,900 in May, following little variation in April and a similar decline of 9,100 (-4.3%) in March. Manitoba (-3,700 to 24,000) and Saskatchewan (-2,400 to 22,000) also recorded declines in job vacancies in May. This number was little changed in the other provinces in May.
On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies decreased in all provinces, led by Ontario (-111,200; -29.6%), Quebec (-58,700; -23.2%) and British Columbia (-42,900; -26.6%).
In May, Quebec (4.8%) and British Columbia (4.7%) continued to have the highest job vacancy rates of any province, while Newfoundland and Labrador (3.5%) had the lowest.
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 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
Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (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.
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.
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitate comparisons because the effects of seasonal variations are removed. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
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.
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. 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).
Real-time data tables
Real-time data tables 14-10-0331-01, 14-10-0332-01 and 14-10-0357-01 will be updated on August 14, 2023.
Next release
June 2023 data for the SEPH and the JVWS will be released on August 31, 2023.
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" (14200001) 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 that go back 10 years are also included. The interactive application allows users to explore and personalize the information presented quickly and easily. 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).
Report a problem on this page
Is something not working? Is there information outdated? Can't find what you're looking for?
Please contact us and let us know how we can help you.
- Date modified: