Low Q1 Unemployment Rates in Engineering-related Industries as More Jobs Added
Actalent's quarterly Labour Market and Economy Report connects important dots between data and trends in Canada's engineering and sciences employment. Specifically, readers can expect to learn about job growth in engineering and sciences by industry, unemployment trends, labour force participation rates, and other factors that impact the hiring, attraction, and retention of workers.
A few key insights from the Q1 report include:
- Several industries have unemployment rates that fell well below the overall unemployment rate of 5%: Utilities (2%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (2.1%), and Manufacturing (3.1%).
- Overall, Canada's economy added 206,500 jobs in quarter one. Among those industries hiring engineering and sciences workers, Utilities saw the greatest increases in jobs added with 9,900. Demand for architecture and engineering workers in this industry has grown 109% in the past year, with civil, electrical, and mechanical engineers appearing most in-demand.
- Average hourly wages for all industries increased 5.07% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023. As an industry, Utilities offers the highest average hourly earnings ($49.18 in Q1 2023). By occupation, ‘Professional occupations in engineering' offer the highest average hourly wage ($51.47 in Q1 2023).
- Fewer workers left their jobs in Q1 2023 (1.2M) compared to Q4 2022 average (1.56M). Approximately 50K of the Q1 2023 leavers did so due to retirement.
