Highlights
- The labour force increased by 3,500 individuals this month, recording a fourth consecutive month of growth.
- According to Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey, there were 457,200 people employed in the area in March, 4,700 more than the previous month.
- In March, the unemployment rate was 3.6%, a drop compared to February (3.9%). This is the lowest rate recorded this past year in the Québec City CMA, and the lowest rate among all major Canadian cities.
- In the province of Quebec, the number of jobs grew by 6,100 from February to March, while the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.3%.
- Statistics Canada reported that the number of vacancies in the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches administrative regions exceeded 19,000 in the fourth quarter of 2018, a 16.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
Commentary
A fourth consecutive increase was recorded in the number of people employed in the Québec City area according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS). That number was estimated at 457,200 in total in March, 4,700 more than the previous month. Once again, the service sector was the driving force of the labour market. Financial, insurance and professional services especially stood out. Conversely, the manufacturing and construction industries both recorded a decline in numbers. Furthermore, there were 474,200 people in the labour force in March, 3,500 more than in February. This growth, combined with an increase in employment, caused a fall in the unemployment rate to 3.6%. This is the lowest rate recorded this past year in the Québec City CMA, and the lowest rate among all major Canadian cities. The participation and employment rates continued to rise for a fourth consecutive month, reaching 69.1% and 66.6% respectively.
Over the past few months, labour market data has shown increasing pressure on the pool of workers as employers’ needs continue to grow. On March 25, Statistics Canada published the most recent data in this respect in the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS). No data is available for the Québec City metropolitan area specifically, but there is for the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches administrative regions. This data shows that there remain a high number of unfilled positions: 12,500 in the Capitale-Nationale and 6,755 in Chaudière-Appalaches. From Q4 2017 to Q4 2018, those numbers grew 18.7% and 13.8% respectively. The job vacancy rate—the percentage of jobs that are unfilled out of all jobs (filled and unfilled)—reflects the labour scarcity we face in the area. In the last quarter of 2018, that rate reached 3.5% in the Capitale-Nationale (3.1% in Q4 2017) and 3.8% in Chaudière-Appalaches (3.3% in Q4 2017).
Émile Émond
Economist
Québec International
