08:10 AM EST, 01/30/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Canada's job vacancy rate held steady at a low 2.6% in November, a long way from the 2022 high of 5.7% and down 0.4 percentage point from a year ago, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

The rate, released on Thursday in the SEPH sruvey, is also below pre-pandemic levels of just over 3%, another sign that the job market is soft, noted the bank. Every sector has seen its rate plummet from the 2022 highs, with even construction basically at the average.

The only two industries that still have a vacancy rate above 3% are accommodation & food services (3.9%) and health care & social services (3.7%). However, the former peaked at 13.5% in 2021.

When the job market was at its peak strength in mid-2022, there were briefly more vacant jobs than people looking for work, stated BMO. The ratio of unemployed to vacancies is now more than three to one. Wage demands are accordingly cooling.