The national job vacancy rate in Canada was 1.6 percent in April, down from 1.8 percent in the same month a year ago, Statistics Canada reported today. Canadian businesses had 234,000 job vacancies in April, a decrease of 20,000 from April 2012.

There were 6.1 unemployed people for every job vacancy in April, up from 5.6 in the same month a year ago, as the decline in vacancies was at a faster pace than the decline in unemployment.