Changes in payroll employment in February. (Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (2612), table 14-10-0220-01.)
The number of employees in Canada’s construction sector receiving pay and benefits from their employer, or payroll employment, in Statistics Canada’ Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours decreased by 3,600 in February, coming in at a seasonally adjusted figure of 1,178,800.
The 0.3 per cent dip was in line with the national figure, as Canadian employment fell by a matching 0.3 per cent, or 49,000 workers, following an increase of 14,400 in January. On a year-over-year basis, overall payroll employment was up by 0.7 per cent in February. The construction sector was up 0.1 per cent in that same time period.
In February, monthly payroll employment declines were recorded in nine of the 20 sectors Statistics Canada tracks, with healthcare and social assistance, administrative and support, and waste management and remediation services being the only sectors to record increases.
Construction sector posts 40,000 vacancies
The job vacancy picture was little changed from January, with 528,000 job vacancies in Canada. The overall jobs picture has been relatively flat for six months leading into this latest report. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 131,100 positions, or almost 20 per cent in February.
The construction sector was a significant contributor to the fall, as it found itself with 18,500 fewer jobs available than in February of 2024, a drop of 31.6 per cent. Despite the tightening of the job market, there were 40,000 job vacancies in the sector this past February, and the job vacancy rate — the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — sat at 3.3 per cent. The overall job vacancy rate was unchanged from the previous month at 2.9 per cent.
