Section 1: Overview
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Job vacancy statistics are produced based on two questions that were added to the existing monthly Business Payrolls Survey (BPS). Respondents are first asked whether they had vacant positions on the last business day of the reference month. If they answered “yes’’ to that question, then they are asked to report the number of positions that were vacant.
As a result of the addition of these new questions to the questionnaire, the Labour Statistics Division is able to provide monthly data on the number of job vacancies across the economy. The data are compiled at broad industrial levels for Canada and the provinces and territories, by size of enterprise.
To be considered vacant, a specific position must exist, work could start within 30 days, and the employer must be actively seeking employees from outside the organization to fill the position.
By combining job vacancy data with employment data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, overall labour demand can be calculated, as well as the job vacancy rate. Unemployment data from the Labour Force Survey is combined with the number of vacant positions, to produce the unemployment-to-job-vacancies ratio. This ratio is produced according to the two-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) level for Canada as a whole and the provinces and territories. This ratio is an indicator of labour market tightness.
Every month job vacancy data are produced in the form of three-month moving averages, using data from that month and from the previous two months.
There are four major releases during the year—the first in March, the second in June, the third in September, and the fourth in December. These releases will provide a glimpse of the situation during the reference period, and will present summary tables of job vacancy rates and the unemployment-to-job-vacancies ratio. During the intervening months, a data availability announcement is made in The Daily.
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