Construction employment fell slightly more than one per cent in Canada in March, reports Statistics Canada in its latest Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours. The loss of almost 13,000 positions was the most amongst sectors included in the tabulations. Despite the month-to-month dip, the sector had 27,100 more workers in March of 2023 than in March of 2022.
Hardest hit of the construction industry segments this past March was residential building, which lost 5,500 workers, followed by building finishing contractors, which was down 2,600, and foundation, structure and building exterior contractors, which lost 2,000 roles.
Overall, Canada’s number of payroll employees was down, but little changed, in March, dropping 9,900 after a February that gained 37,900. Total job vacancies edged down by 17,300, or 2.1 per cent, to sit at 815,300. That is the lowest number of job vacancies reported since August of 2021, and well off the peak of 1,003,200 openings that was reached in May of 2022. This past March, the construction sector had 72,600 positions available to be filled.