This type of data on job vacancies will also provide important information on the relationship between the number of vacancies and unemployment. For example, an increase in the number of vacancies at the same time as an increase in unemployment—or even if unemployment remains flat—could reflect a mismatch due to structural factors.
The next slide shows vacancy rates, the unmet demand, by provinces and territories. As you can see, both Alberta and Saskatchewan had the highest vacancy rate of 2.6%, while the eastern provinces posted the lowest vacancy rates as of September 2011.
Now that we've looked at the demand side, we can turn to the next slide and look at the supply side. A low unemployment rate for a specific occupation may be an indicator of tight labour supply. In this graph we present the unemployment rate by occupation groups at the national level. The graph shows that health-related occupations have the lowest unemployment rate at 0.9% and 1.9% for the first two categories on the graph in red. They're well below the national rate of 7.4%, potentially indicating a short supply of labour in these occupations.
Also of potential interest are the natural and applied sciences and related occupations, as well as transport and equipment operators. Again both bars are in red, and you can see that they're below the national average in unemployment.
At the other end of the spectrum, lower-skilled labourers and trade helpers have had the highest unemployment rates at around 12%. One must remember, however, that not all workers in one occupation can fill all the jobs in the group. For example, a shortage of nurses cannot be filled by other workers in the health sector. Another reason why there can be higher unemployment is related to the location of the supply and demand.
Turning to the next slide, we look at unemployment rates for selected occupation groups across provinces. In this graph, among the occupation groups of interest for this committee we see that the unemployment rate was lower for the higher-skilled occupations in natural and applied sciences, as well as in health in all provinces. They were lower and relatively even across the provinces.
On the other hand, while the unemployment rate was also low for occupations in the primary industry and processing, manufacturing, and utilities in the prairie provinces and Alberta, it was higher in all other provinces, indicating there may be potential supply in other areas of the country. The LFS data are also available by economic region, which could also identify regional differences within each province.
Now that we've covered some of the indicators of labour demand and supply, we'll focus on some of the characteristics of potential labour supply, namely graduates and immigrants.
I will pass the presentation over to Josée.