The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employment" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—rose by 26,800 (+0.1%) in January, following an increase of 66,400 (+0.4%) in December 2024. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 198,900 (+1.1%) in January 2025.
In January, monthly payroll employment increases were recorded in 6 out of 20 sectors, including educational services (+26,200; +1.8%), retail trade (+9,800; +0.5%) and health care and social assistance (+7,300; +0.3%). These gains were partially offset by declines in construction (-8,000; -0.7%), accommodation and food services (-3,400; -0.3%) and information and cultural industries (-2,700; -0.8%). There was little change in the remaining 11 sectors.
Meanwhile, job vacancies were little changed in January. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 136,700 (-20.6%) in January.
In January, monthly payroll employment increases were recorded in 6 out of 20 sectors, including educational services (+26,200; +1.8%), retail trade (+9,800; +0.5%) and health care and social assistance (+7,300; +0.3%). These gains were partially offset by declines in construction (-8,000; -0.7%), accommodation and food services (-3,400; -0.3%) and information and cultural industries (-2,700; -0.8%). There was little change in the remaining 11 sectors.
Meanwhile, job vacancies were little changed in January. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 136,700 (-20.6%) in January.
Payroll employment in educational services increases in January
Payroll employment in educational services increased by 26,200 (+1.8%) in January, following a decline in December (-7,200; -0.5%).
The monthly increase in educational services was led by elementary and secondary schools (+12,300; +1.4%), followed by universities (+8,000; +2.4%) and community colleges and CEGEPs (+4,300; +3.1%). Together, these three industry groups accounted for 91.7% of payroll employment in educational services in January.
Year over year, payroll employment in educational services was up 69,500 (+4.8%) in January.
Retail trade records an increase in payroll employment in January
Payroll employment in retail trade increased by 9,800 (+0.5%) in January, offsetting the declines observed in December (-6,000; -0.3%) and November (-3,800; -0.2%). On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was down 18,500 (-0.9%) in January 2025.
The year-over-year payroll employment decline in the sector in January was led by sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers (-11,400; -5.4%), furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers (-5,900; -5.5%) and general merchandise retailers (-3,000; -1.1%).
These losses were partially offset by gains in health and personal care retailers (+3,100; +1.4%), motor vehicle and parts dealers (+2,800; +1.3%) and clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers (+2,300; +1.1%) in January.
Health care and social assistance continues to record payroll employment increases
Payroll employment in health care and social assistance increased by 7,300 (+0.3%) in January, following growth of 8,100 (+0.3%) in December 2024. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment in this sector was up 87,900 (+3.8%) in January 2025.
The year-over-year gain in January was driven by general medical and surgical hospitals (+32,500; +5.2%), followed by child day-care services (+9,800; +5.3%) and nursing care facilities (+8,500; +3.6%).
Payroll employment decreases in construction on a month-over-month basis
Payroll employment in construction decreased by 8,000 (-0.7%) in January, partially offsetting a cumulative increase of 11,700 (+1.0%) from September to December 2024. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment in the construction sector was up 11,900 (+1.0%) in January 2025.
The year-over-year increase in January was concentrated among specialty trade contractors (+9,100; +1.3%), followed by non-residential building construction (+1,800; +1.5%) and residential building construction (+1,300; +0.8%).
Average weekly earnings increase on a year-over-year basis in January
On a year-over-year basis, average weekly earnings were up 5.5% to $1,294 in January, following growth of 5.9% in December 2024. In general, growth in average weekly earnings can reflect a range of factors, including changes in wages, composition of employment, hours worked and base-year effects.
Month over month, average weekly earnings were little changed in January 2025.
Average weekly hours (33.5 hours) were little changed in January both on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.
Job vacancies little changed in January
There were 526,200 job vacancies in January, little changed from December. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 136,700 (-20.6%) in January. Total labour demand—which corresponds to the sum of filled and unfilled positions—was little changed in January from both the previous month and the same month last year.
The job vacancy rate—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—was 2.9% in January, down 0.1 percentage points from December (3.0%). The monthly decline followed four consecutive months of little change. Year over year, the job vacancy rate was down by 0.8 percentage points in January.
There were 2.8 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in January, unchanged from December, but up from 1.9 in January 2024. The year-over-year increase in the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio in January 2025 reflects a decrease in vacancies (-135,200; -20.5%, excluding territories), and an increase in the number of unemployed persons (+250,500; +20.2%, according to the Labour Force Survey).
Description - Infographic 1 Job vacancies and unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio little changed in January
Infographic description
The title of the infographic is "Job vacancies and unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio little changed in January"
This is a linear chart.
The vertical axis on the left shows the number of job vacancies in thousands, by increments of 100. It starts at 500 and ends at 1,100.
The vertical axis on the right shows the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio, by increments of 0.5. It starts at 0.5 and ends at 3.5.
The horizontal axis shows each month, from January 2020 to January 2025.
The black line represents the number of job vacancies (in thousands) in the last 61 months, with 581.0 in January 2020, 575.6 in February 2020, 529.7 in March 2020, April 2020 to September 2020 omitted because data were not collected during this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, 574.6 in October 2020, 567.5 in November 2020, 570.3 in December 2020, 559.4 in January 2021, 614.3 in February 2021, 641.0 in March 2021, 649.3 in April 2021, 671.3 in May 2021, 766.3 in June 2021, 809.9 in July 2021, 873.2 in August 2021, 925.0 in September 2021, 915.5 in October 2021, 904.9 in November 2021, 973.6 in December 2021, 918.6 in January 2022, 914.4 in February 2022, 987.4 in March 2022, 989.4 in April 2022, 999.6 in May 2022, 986.1 in June 2022, 974.9 in July 2022, 921.2 in August 2022, 928.2 in September 2022, 884.0 in October 2022, 863.8 in November 2022, 850.4 in December 2022, 855.2 in January 2023, 831.8 in February 2023, 799.9 in March 2023, 795.7 in April 2023, 773.6 in May 2023, 741.2 in June 2023, 715.0 in July 2023, 692.0 in August 2023, 641.8 in September 2023, 669.7 in October 2023, 668.7 in November 2023, 631.8 in December 2023, 659.2 in January 2024, 656.2 in February 2024, 599.8 in March 2024, 589.7 in April 2024, 568.5 in May 2024, 550.1 in June 2024, 545.4 in July 2024, 528.6 in August 2024, 528.5 in September 2024, 523.8 in October 2024, 531.7 in November 2024, 536.8 in December 2024, and 524.0 in January 2025.
The blue line represents the unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio in the last 61 months, with 1.9 in January 2020, 2.0 in February 2020, 3.1 in March 2020, April 2020 to September 2020 omitted because data were not collected during this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, 3.2 in October 2020, 3.1 in November 2020, 3.2 in December 2020, 3.3 in January 2021, 2.8 in February 2021, 2.5 in March 2021, 2.6 in April 2021, 2.5 in May 2021, 2.1 in June 2021, 1.9 in July 2021, 1.7 in August 2021, 1.6 in September 2021, 1.5 in October 2021, 1.4 in November 2021, 1.3 in December 2021, 1.5 in January 2022, 1.2 in February 2022, 1.1 in March 2022, 1.1 in April 2022, 1.1 in May 2022, 1.0 in June 2022, 1.0 in July 2022, 1.2 in August 2022, 1.1 in September 2022, 1.2 in October 2022, 1.2 in November 2022, 1.2 in December 2022, 1.2 in January 2023, 1.3 in February 2023, 1.3 in March 2023, 1.4 in April 2023, 1.4 in May 2023, 1.6 in June 2023, 1.6 in July 2023, 1.7 in August 2023, 1.9 in September 2023, 1.8 in October 2023, 1.9 in November 2023, 2.0 in December 2023, 1.9 in January 2024, 2.0 in February 2024, 2.2 in March 2024, 2.3 in April 2024, 2.4 in May 2024, 2.6 in June 2024, 2.6 in July 2024, 2.8 in August 2024, 2.8 in September 2024, 2.8 in October 2024, 2.9 in November 2024, 2.8 in December 2024, and 2.8 in January 2025.
Note(s): Data are seasonally adjusted. The total number of vacancies is equal to the sum of job vacancies in the provinces (excluding the territories) for consistency with the geographic coverage of the Labour Force Survey. Job Vacancy and Wage Survey data collection was suspended from April 2020 to September 2020. Therefore, data for these reference periods are not available.
Source(s): Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (5217), table 14-10-0432-01; Labour Force Survey (3701), table 14-10-0287-01.
Job vacancies decrease in four sectors
In January, four sectors recorded a decline in job vacancies: transportation and warehousing (-5,800; -18.9%), finance and insurance (-5,100; -27.0%), educational services (-2,800; -14.8%) and utilities (-700; -33.3%). Job vacancies were little changed in the remaining 16 sectors.
Year over year, vacancies declined in 15 out of 20 sectors in January. The largest declines were recorded in health care and social assistance (-35,000; -24.3%), retail trade (-16,800; -25.0%), and accommodation and food services (-13,000; -15.9%). Job vacancies were little changed in the remaining five sectors.
Job vacancies in educational services fall to lowest level since April 2021
Job vacancies in educational services fell by 2,800 (-14.8%) to 16,300 in January, the lowest level since April 2021 (16,100). The decline in January 2025 follows nine consecutive months of little change.
Year over year, the number of job vacancies in educational services was down by 6,000 (-26.8%) in January.
The job vacancy rate in the sector was 1.1% in January, down 0.2 percentage points from December (1.3%) and down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier (1.5%).
Accommodation and food services has the highest job vacancy rate among all sectors
In January, the number of job vacancies in accommodation and food services edged up (+4,600; +7.1%) to 69,000. Vacancies in the sector have trended upwards from a recent low in August 2024 (52,800). From August 2024 to January 2025, the job vacancy rate in the sector increased by 1.1 percentage points to 5.0%. This was the highest job vacancy rate across all sectors in January.
On a year-over-year basis, the number of job vacancies in accommodation and food services was down by 13,000 (-15.9%) in January.
Job vacancies in health care and social assistance hold steady
Job vacancies in health care and social assistance were little changed at 109,200 in January, the highest number of job vacancies of all sectors. Vacancies in health care and social assistance accounted for 20.8% of total job vacancies in January, compared with 13.3% in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The job vacancy rate in health care and social assistance was 4.3% in January 2025 and was down 1.5 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.
Job vacancies decrease in Alberta
Vacancies in Alberta fell by 8,600 (-11.9%) to 63,400 in January, more than offsetting the increase recorded in December 2024 (+5,600; +8.5%). Alberta was the lone province to record a significant change in the number of job vacancies in January 2025.
Year over year, the job vacancy rate was down in seven provinces in January, with the largest decreases in Newfoundland and Labrador (-1.5 percentage points to 2.5%), New Brunswick (-1.0 percentage points to 2.4%), and British Columbia (-1.0 percentage points to 3.5%). Meanwhile, the job vacancy rate was little changed in Saskatchewan (3.5%) and Nova Scotia (2.9%).
In January, the job vacancy rate was highest in Saskatchewan (3.5%) and British Columbia (3.5%), while it was at its lowest in New Brunswick (2.4%). Saskatchewan had the lowest unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio (1.9), followed by Quebec (2.0) and British Columbia (2.2).
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Sustainable Development Goals
On January 1 2016, the world officially began implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. It will be used in helping to measure the following goals:
Note to readers
Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours
The Survey of Employment, Payrolls, and Hours (SEPH) data are revised on an annual basis.
With the release of January 2025 data, recent and historical SEPH monthly data will be replaced with revised estimates.
All seasonally unadjusted monthly data series will be revised for a small number of industries across different regions to correct reporting or processing errors. Additionally, seasonally adjusted data will be revised back to 2001 based on the latest seasonal factors.
The key objective of the SEPH is to provide a monthly portrait of the level of earnings, employment and hours worked, by detailed industry, at the national, provincial and territorial levels.
Payroll employment, as measured by the SEPH, refers to the number of employees receiving pay and benefits (employment income) during a given month. The survey excludes the self-employed, owners and partners of unincorporated businesses and professional practices, and employees in the agricultural sector.
SEPH estimates are produced by integrating information from three sources: a census of approximately 1 million payroll deduction records provided by the Canada Revenue Agency; the Business Payrolls Survey, which collects data from a sample of 15,000 establishments; and administrative records of federal, provincial and territorial public administration employment, provided by these levels of government.
Estimates of average weekly earnings and hours worked are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. This analysis focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level. Payroll employment estimates are based on a census of administrative data and are not subject to sampling variability.
With each release of SEPH data, data for the preceding month are revised. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
Statistics Canada also produces employment estimates from its Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is a monthly household survey, the main objective of which is to divide the working-age population into three mutually exclusive groups: the employed (including the self-employed), the unemployed and those not in the labour force. This survey is the official source for the unemployment rate, and it collects data on the sociodemographic characteristics of all people in the labour market.
Employment trends from the SEPH and from the LFS generally track each other closely, especially over longer periods of time. That said, because of differences in concepts, definitions and methodologies, variations in employment levels in SEPH and in the LFS may differ, especially over shorter periods. For a more in-depth discussion of the conceptual differences between employment measures from the LFS and the SEPH, refer to Section 8 of the Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (Catalogue number72-203-G).
The SEPH and LFS both also provide monthly indicators of pay received by employees. Used together, average weekly earnings (from SEPH) and average hourly wages (from the LFS) can provide a comprehensive portrait of pay dynamics in Canada. For information on definitions for each indicator, key conceptual and measurement differences, and guidance to data users on when to use each indicator, refer to the report "Earnings and Wages – A guide to using indicators from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours and the Labour Force Survey."
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitate comparisons because the effects of seasonal variations are removed. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Non-farm payroll employment data are for all hourly and salaried employees and for the "other employees" category, which includes piece-rate and commission-only employees.
Unless otherwise specified, average weekly hours data are for hourly and salaried employees only and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2022 version 1.0 code.
All earnings data include overtime and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a NAICS code. Earnings data are based on gross taxable payroll before source deductions. Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly earnings by the number of employees. Changes in average weekly earnings can reflect a range of factors, including changes in wages, composition of employment, hours worked and base-year effects.
Base-year effect refers to the impact that trends from 12 months earlier (base month) have on the current month's estimate of year-over-year change. In the case of SEPH, when the average weekly earnings in the base month is at the peak of a short-term trend, this tends to have a downward effect on year-over-year average weekly earnings growth in the current month. In contrast, if the value of the base month is at a low point of a trend, this tends to have an upward effect on the current month's year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings.
Job Vacancy and Wage Survey
Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) collection is done on a quarterly basis. The quarterly sample of business locations is allocated to the three collection months of the quarter, approximately balanced by province and by industrial sector across each of the three months. This allows both quarterly and monthly estimates to be produced.
Preliminary monthly estimates are produced for job vacancies, job vacancy rates and payroll employment using available responses from business locations sampled in the corresponding reference month. The reference period for the JVWS is the first day of the respective month. This analysis focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level.
These preliminary monthly estimates are revised and finalized when the corresponding quarterly estimates are released or shortly thereafter. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitate comparisons because the effects of seasonal variations are removed. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
While JVWS employment is calibrated to the SEPH, SEPH payroll employment and JVWS preliminary monthly employment figures may differ because of calibration grouping and differences in scope and reference period.
The unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio excludes the territories for consistency with the geographic coverage of the available LFS data (table 14-10-0287-01).
The JVWS also provides comprehensive quarterly data on job vacancies by industrial sector and detailed occupation for Canada and the provinces, territories and economic regions; offered hourly wages; and job vacancy characteristics. More information about the concepts and use of data from the JVWS is available in the Guide to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (Catalogue number75-514-G).
Real-time data tables
Tables 14-10-0357-01 and 14-10-0358-01 have now been archived.
Real-time data tables 14-10-0331-01 and 14-10-0332-01 will be updated on April 14.
Next release
February 2025 data for SEPH and JVWS will be released on April 24.