There were nearly six unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy in December, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

Canadian businesses had 221,000 job openings at the end of 2012, one for every 5.7 unemployed workers, the federal agency said.

More than 1.2 million people were out of work.

The StatsCan release comes on the eve of a federal budget that Ottawa says will focus on skills training and better matching the labour market with business needs.

But some critics say the figures show the problem isn’t a skills mismatch, but rather a lack of job creation.

“I think it’s clear there’s no overall labour shortage,” Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworkers Union, said in a telephone interview. “We have nearly six unemployed workers for every vacancy.

“Even if a (skills training) policy somehow succeeded in filling every current vacancy, more than a million Canadians would remain unemployed,” Weir said.

While it’s possible certain skills may be in short supply, Weir acknowledged, governments would be better off creating more jobs by investing in needed public services and infrastructure projects.

The federal budget is, in fact, expected to include spending on major public projects, such as roads and bridges, in addition to skills training.

In a leaked memo to the Conservative caucus, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty confirmed he plans to propose a new infrastructure program.

However, Flaherty has also said the government remains committed to paying off its $26 billion deficit by 2015, despite an expected slowdown in Canada’s economic growth rate.

Some labour economists say Ottawa could be doing a lot more to help boost Canada’s performance.

“My biggest hope is we avoid shooting ourselves in the foot with misplaced austerity,” said Jim Stanford, economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, noting the economy had slowed to near zero at the end of 2012.

“We’re just on the cusp of entering another recession,” Stanford warned, adding the housing market is a big question mark. “Housing was one of the positives last year. If it’s shifting into reverse, you’ve got another gap to fill.”

Other StatsCan data pegs the skills trades shortage at around 100,000 people, Stanford said, while the number of unemployed, underemployed and people who gave up looking for work is closer to 2 million.

“This is the time to invest. We should be having a ‘go fast’ approach on infrastructure investment to create jobs,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“It’s a missed opportunity,” he added, noting the cost of borrowing is low and wages still haven’t fully recovered from the recession.

It’s unclear whether Canada’s skill shortage is really a wage issue, Macdonald added.

“If you want more people raise the wages more. People will move for money,” he said.

Ottawa cancelled the 2012 Workplace Survey, citing budget constraints. The annual report produced a high level of detail on labour market shortages, including what skills are needed and where, Macdonald noted.

The job vacancy rate in December was virtually unchanged from a year ago, Statistics Canada said in Wednesday’s report.

The highest ratios of unemployed people to job vacancies is in the eastern provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador led with 16 unemployed for every opening.

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The lowest was in the oil-rich western provinces. Alberta and Saskatchewan both had just 1.9 unemployed people for every opening.

In Ontario, the ratio was 8 unemployed people for every job vacancy.

By industry, the highest unemployment ratio was in construction, with 8.2 jobless for every opening, little changed from a year ago. The seasonal nature of the industry is a factor in the December data.

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