Job market in Ontario shows discrepancy with four times as many job-seekers as available job openings
In a recent lunch event with a business audience in downtown Toronto, Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed his concerns about the current job market in the province. According to the latest Statistics Canada report, released on September 17th, 2025, there are currently 179,000 job openings in Ontario, a significant decrease of more than 200,000 compared to June 30, 2022.
Ford expressed frustration when young people today say they can't find work. He claimed that if young people look hard enough, the jobs are there. However, the report does not indicate an improvement in the unemployment situation in Ontario, with 2.6% of Ontario jobs currently open, the second-worst rate among the provinces.
The number of job-seekers in Ontario is over 800,000 in August 2025, according to StatsCan. This is a concerning figure, as job vacancies have been trending down for three years. In fact, job vacancies in Ontario have fallen by more than half since June 2022, when there were 378,000 job openings.
Ontario is not the only province facing challenges in the job market. Only in Newfoundland and Labrador are the odds worse for job-hunters. British Columbia, on the other hand, has the best job market for job-seekers, with 3.3% of jobs needing workers.
The current Premier of British Columbia is David Eby, who has been in office since November 18, 2022. The year when British Columbia had the highest rate of job vacancies among Canadian provinces is not specified in the available search results.
Despite the challenging job market, Premier Doug Ford dismissed concerns about job-searchers on a recent occasion, stating that young people who can't find work aren't looking "hard enough."
This decline in job openings in Ontario is a cause for concern for many, and it remains to be seen how the province will address this issue in the coming months.
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