The regions most short of workers this fall
A Monday morning in late October. In the Laurentians, a small cleaning company has just signed three new clients and is wondering who will go. At the same moment in Montreal, someone who is very good at that work sends their tenth application of the week. The work and the workers both exist, just not always in the same place. Here's where the need is greatest this fall, backed by official numbers, and what to do with that information.
What the latest official numbers say
The most recent job vacancy data comes from the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ). It covers the second quarter of 2026 and was released in September. Quebec had about 123,700 job vacancies, almost as many as a year earlier. The job vacancy rate held at 3.1%, the same as for Canada as a whole.
Two details matter directly for service trades. Vacancies requiring high school or less rose by about 3,700 in a year. And those requiring less than one year of experience rose by about 3,200. In other words, employers are increasingly looking for people they can train on the job. The average hourly wage offered for these vacancies was about $28.60.
Do this now: if you don't have a diploma in your trade, stop selling yourself short. Write in your profile what you can actually do, and that you learn fast.
The regions most short of workers
To see where the need is greatest, you have to look at two things together: the share of jobs that stay vacant and the number of people looking for work. Where there are lots of open positions and few unemployed people, employers struggle to hire. And workers have more choice.
- Abitibi-Témiscamingue: the highest job vacancy rate in Quebec in the second quarter (4.6%), up about 0.6 points in a year, with an unemployment rate of 2.7%.
- Laurentians: the number of vacancies climbed by nearly 19% in a year and the rate rose by about 0.5 points. Along with Bas-Saint-Laurent, it's the only region where the number of vacancies rose by a statistically significant amount.
- Bas-Saint-Laurent: about 28% more vacancies than a year earlier, the biggest significant increase in Quebec.
- Chaudière-Appalaches: the lowest unemployment rate in Quebec, at 2.3%.
- Lanaudière, Estrie and Centre-du-Québec: unemployment rates under 4%.
Here are the regional unemployment rates the ISQ published in October (three-month moving averages, seasonally adjusted). The ISQ advises reading them with caution, because regional estimates are less reliable than the provincial figure.
| Administrative region | Unemployment rate (July to September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Chaudière-Appalaches | 2.3% |
| Abitibi-Témiscamingue | 2.7% |
| Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec | 2.7% |
| Lanaudière | 3.4% |
| Estrie | 3.8% |
| Centre-du-Québec | 3.9% |
| Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean | 4.0% |
| Montérégie | 4.7% |
| Capitale-Nationale | 4.8% |
| Laurentides | 5.2% |
| Mauricie | 5.3% |
| Bas-Saint-Laurent | 5.8% |
| Outaouais | 5.9% |
| Laval | 7.1% |
| Montreal | 8.6% |
| Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine | 12.3% |
| Province of Quebec | 5.7% |
Do this now: find your region in the table. If it's near the top of the list, you're in a strong position to discuss hours and pay.
Where there are more people than jobs
At the other end, Montreal has the lowest job vacancy rate in Quebec (2.6%) and an unemployment rate of 8.6%. Careful, that doesn't mean there's no work: with about 33,500 vacancies, Montreal has more than any other region. There are just more candidates for each one. Laval, at 7.1% unemployment, is in a similar spot.
In Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the unemployment rate went from 7.9% in June to 12.3% in September. It's the region with the fewest vacancies, just under 1,300. If you live there and can travel, neighbouring regions or seasonal contracts elsewhere may be worth a look.
The lesson is simple: the number of job postings and how hard it is to hire are not the same thing. A worker in Laval who's willing to drive 30 minutes to the Laurentians or Lanaudière completely changes their bargaining power. Just line up a good podcast for the drive.
Do this now: check the travel radius in your profile. Widening it by 15 or 20 km can bring up postings you weren't seeing.
Sector by sector: where things are moving
The ISQ numbers are broken down by industry, not by trade. They still give good clues. Nearly 55% of vacancies are in four industries: health care and social assistance (about 26,900), manufacturing (14,900), retail trade (13,200) and accommodation and food services (12,700).
What changed in a year:
- Retail trade: about 2,200 more vacancies (+20%). If retail interests you for the winter, read Holiday temp jobs: where to look and what to check before saying yes.
- Manufacturing: about 1,600 more (+12%).
- Health care and social assistance: about 4,300 fewer (-14%), but it's still by far the industry with the most vacancies. Home support is part of it.
Service trades also follow their own fall logic. Snow removal companies build their crews before the first snow (Snow removal: the race for crews before the first snowfall). Cleaning and interior renovation take over from outdoor work. For the full picture of the trades hiring from November to March, read the guide Winter jobs in Quebec: the trades hiring from November to March.
Do this now: if you work outdoors in summer, pick your winter trade now and add it to your profile, before crews are full.
What GPP Emploi shows you live
Official statistics have one flaw: they come out a few months after the fact. GPP Emploi is connected to GPP Central, where clients request services from businesses every day. The GPP Emploi home page shows live, in "Ce que personne d'autre ne voit" (what nobody else sees), the requests taken by trade and by region. It's the best clue to the work coming up near you.
To dig deeper, the regions page takes you to each of Quebec's 17 regions, like the Laurentians or Lanaudière. On the employer side, the optional Central signal immediately shows available workers near the business when it takes more requests than usual.
- Workers: create your free profile in about 3 minutes, no résumé needed, and list every region you're willing to work in.
- Employers: in a region where candidates are scarce, a clear posting and a quick reply make the difference. The guide Recruiting through a labour shortage: a guide for small service businesses explains how.
Do this now: open the home page and see which trades stand out in your region this week.
The bottom line
Workers are scarcest in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Chaudière-Appalaches and, more and more, the Laurentians. If you can widen your radius a few kilometres toward those regions, do it now: it's often the best-paying move of the fall.
Frequently asked questions
Which region of Quebec has the biggest labour shortage?
In the second quarter of 2026, Abitibi-Témiscamingue had the highest job vacancy rate in Quebec, at 4.6%, according to the ISQ. Chaudière-Appalaches had the lowest unemployment rate in September 2026, at 2.3%. The Laurentians saw one of the biggest year-over-year increases in vacancies.
What is the job vacancy rate in Quebec in 2026?
According to the ISQ, it was 3.1% in the second quarter of 2026, the same as a year earlier. That represented about 123,700 vacancies. The rate ranged from 2.6% in Montreal to 4.6% in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Which sectors have the most job vacancies in Quebec?
Health care and social assistance had about 26,900 in the second quarter of 2026. Next came manufacturing, retail trade, and accommodation and food services. Together, these four industries accounted for nearly 55% of vacancies.
Is the labour shortage over in Quebec?
No, but it has stabilized: the number of vacancies stayed about the same between 2025 and 2026. The situation varies a lot by region and trade. In some regions, such as the Laurentians and Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the pressure has actually increased.
Sources
- Les postes vacants au Québec par trimestre (Institut de la statistique du Québec, in French only)
- Job vacancies in Québec, second quarter of 2026 (Institut de la statistique du Québec)
- Indicateurs mensuels : emploi et taux de chômage par région administrative (Institut de la statistique du Québec, in French)
