Construction employment and job vacancies continue to slide

The construction employment sector in Canada continued its decline in July, with payroll employment dropping by 2,200 positions—a 0.2 per cent dip—after a similar downturn in June. This ongoing decrease largely affected specialty trade contractors, residential building construction, and building equipment contractors. Meanwhile, job vacancies in the sector fell by 14.3 per cent in July, marking the lowest vacancy rate since October 2017. The overall decline in job vacancies continued a trend noticed since July 2024, with a significant reduction of available positions in the market.