Employment levels surpass pre-COVID with significant gains in April

Ontario Construction News staff writer

Almost all construction sectors have surpassed pre-COVID payroll employment levels as of April, according to Statistics Canada.

The construction sector also reached a new high or job vacancies in April, with 89,900 openings – a more than 40 per increase from April of last year. The job vacancy rate was 7.9 per cent in April 2022, the highest monthly rate in the sector since comparable data became available in October 2020.

The latest report shows residential building construction 11.5 percent above its February 2020 levels. Land subdivision jobs is now just 200 positions shy of pre-COVID levels of employment and is the only sector below February 2020 numbers.

Overall, employment in construction increased by 10,500 jobs in April with largest gains in Alberta – 4,900 positions, a 2.8 per cent increase.

In the same month, the number of employees receiving pay or benefits, as measured by the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, increased by 126,000 and gains were reported in all provinces except Quebec were spread across all provinces except for Quebec, which reported no change.

All provinces removed public health measures around capacity limits in April, a move that allowed businesses to operate without pandemic-related restrictions.

April’s average weekly earnings were essentially unchanged from March, at $1,170, however, on average were four per cent higher than the same time in 2021.

Across all sectors including construction, Canadian employers were looking to fill about a million vacant positions at the beginning of April, a 44.4 per cent jump from April 2021.

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