Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies rose by 3.2 percent in June to reach a new high as employers looked to fill more than one million jobs for the third consecutive month.

The agency says employers were actively seeking to fill 1,037,900 jobs compared to 1,005,700 in May, while the Canadian economy lost 43,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent. The job vacancy rate reached 5.9 percent in June, matching the record set in September 2021 and up 4.9 percent in June 2021.

In the same context, Statistics Canada says employers in the health care and social assistance sector were looking to fill 149,700 job vacancies in June, an increase of 4.3 percent from May and up 40.8 percent compared to the previous year.

The total job vacancies in the accommodation and food services sector reached 171,700 in June, an increase of 6.6 percent compared to May and up 38.8 percent from June 2021.

As for the retail trade sector, it witnessed an increase in job vacancies of 15.3 percent compared to May to 114,400 in June, and job vacancies in the retail sector rose by 22.5 percent compared to June 2021.