What Industries Are Hiring Right Now in Canada?
Job growth in Canada remains steady compared with the past year, according to research conducted for Robert Half’s Demand for Skilled Talent report. Over half of employers (46 per cent) at organizations of all sizes report that they’re recruiting talent to expand their teams, mostly to support company growth.
This aligns with Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey, which reported 413,000 more people working at the end of December 2024 compared to December 2023 (a 2 per cent rise year-over-year), including 91,000 net new jobs between November and December (a 0.4 per cent rise) and a 0.1 per cent decline in unemployment, to 6.7 per cent.
However, while more companies are seeking talent to support critical initiatives, many employers are struggling to find skilled candidates available for hire. Ninety-two per cent of Canadian hiring managers report difficulty locating talent — with nearly three in 10 (27 per cent) saying it is very challenging.
The Demand for Skilled Talent report highlights the latest data from Robert Half surveys of hiring managers and our analysis of a proprietary dataset of more than 200,000 Canadian job postings across 5,400 unique job boards and company sites, including over 6,000 Robert Half placements. It is intended to help hiring managers make informed staffing decisions.
This post takes a deeper dive into our newly updated report. It provides an overview of key industries that are likely to recruit talent in the first half of 2025, and jobs expected to be in high demand.
Which types of industries have been adding jobs in 2024?
The business and professional services, manufacturing and distribution, consumer products, and finance and insurance industries together contributed over 93,000 new positions to the Canadian economy in the second half of 2024 (+93,100 jobs).
The consumer products, manufacturing and distribution, and educational services industries saw the greatest declines in job growth in the second half of 2024, compared with the same period in 2023. Finance and insurance and information technology stayed stable with H2 2023 job postings while the number of public sector jobs increased.
Business and professional services hiring trends
The business services industry had the most job openings in the last six months of 2024 (+52,400 jobs) compared with all other industries that Robert Half supports with our talent solutions.
Twenty-nine per cent of job openings in business and professional services were in finance and accounting, 25 per cent were in technology, and 25 per cent were in administrative and customer support.
Here’s a look by functional area at some top roles employers were recruiting for in the second half of 2024:
Tech and IT
Software engineer/developer (+3,800 jobs)
Full stack developer (+900 jobs)
DevOps engineer (+500 jobs)
Finance and accounting
Accounting clerk (+1,500 jobs)
Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable Clerk (+1,200 jobs)
Senior accountant (+1,100 jobs)
Bookkeeper (+900 jobs)
Administrative and customer support
Administrative assistant (+2,800 jobs)
Customer service specialist (+2,300 jobs)
Project assistant/coordinator (+1,900 jobs)
Receptionist (+1,400 jobs)
Office manager (+1,000 jobs)
Consumer products hiring trends
Consumer products was the third-largest industry contributing to the job market in the second half of 2024, with 14,100 openings. Administrative and customer support roles made up nearly 50 per cent of the new professional openings within this industry, totaling nearly 6,600 jobs.
The most in-demand jobs in the consumer products industry in the second six months of 2024 included:
Customer service specialist (+2,200 jobs)
Customer service manager (+800 jobs)
Receptionist (+700 jobs)
Administrative assistant (+700 jobs)
Sales assistant (+500 jobs)
Education services hiring trends
Universities and educational organizations recruited talent for 4,100 job openings in Canada in the second half of 2024. These jobs were predominately in administrative and customer support (39 per cent), followed by finance and accounting (19 per cent), technology (16 per cent), and marketing and creative (13 per cent). Administrative assistant topped the list of job openings (+700 jobs).
Finance and insurance hiring trends
Employers in the financial services industry recruited talent for 12,200 jobs in the second half of 2024, staying stable with the second half of 2023. The largest growth of year-on-year growth of jobs was within the administrative and customer support functions.
Thirty-five per cent of the jobs in this industry were specifically in finance and accounting functions, while 30 per cent were in administrative and customer support, and 23 per cent were in technology.
The most in-demand finance and accounting jobs in the financial sector included senior business analyst (+300 jobs) and senior financial analyst (+200 jobs). Many employers in the finance and insurance industry were also hiring tech and IT professionals such as software engineer/developers (+800 jobs) as well as customer service specialists (+1,700 jobs).
Government hiring trends
The Canadian public sector added 7,400 jobs in the second half of 2024, a 29 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The largest share of these jobs was in administrative and customer support (44 per cent), followed by finance and accounting (24 per cent), and technology (14 per cent).
Government entities were particularly focused on hiring for the following roles in these functional areas:
Administrative, customer support and human resources
Administrative assistant (+1,200 jobs)
Office manager (+400 jobs)
Receptionist (+300 jobs)
Finance and accounting
Bookkeeper (+400 jobs)
Accounting clerk (+200 jobs)
Manufacturing hiring trends
The manufacturing and distribution industry contributed the second highest number of jobs to the Canadian economy. Among the professional roles that Robert Half places in the manufacturing industry, there were over 14,200 new job openings added in the second six months of 2024. These jobs were primarily in companies’ administrative and customer support (33 per cent), and finance and accounting (25 per cent), and technology (22 per cent) departments.
The following roles were in particular demand in the manufacturing industry:
Customer service specialist (+1,200 jobs)
Software engineer/developer (+1,000 jobs)
Administrative assistant (+800 jobs)
Project assistant/coordinator (+400 jobs)
Accounting clerk (+400 jobs)
Office manager (+400 jobs)
Tech and IT hiring trends
The technology industry recruited talent for 5,700 jobs in the second half of 2024. Companies in the technology sector primarily hired for their technology (51 per cent) but also staffed their administrative and customer support (16 per cent), marketing and creative (15 per cent), and finance and accounting (13 per cent) functions.
The following technology, administrative, and marketing and creative roles were in especially high demand in the technology industry:
Software engineer/developer (+1,100 jobs)
Customer service specialist (+300 jobs)
Marketing manager (+100 jobs)
DevOps engineer (+100 jobs)
Full stack developer (+100 jobs)
Get more insights in Robert Half’s Demand for Skilled Talent report
Access Report
We know from our latest research for the Demand for Skilled Talent report that many employers in Canada have plans to hire, but another trend may work against their recruitment goals: Only 38 per cent of Canadian workers we surveyed said they plan to look for a new job during the first half of 2025 — down from 42 per cent who had similar plans during the same period last year.
For tips on how to overcome hiring challenges in the current labor market, plus more data on Canadian hiring and employment trends in 2025, read the full Demand for Skilled Talent report.
Methodology
Industry calculations are based on job postings provided by Textkernel. Positions are categorized into more than 350 job titles within the 2025 Canada Salary Guide From Robert Half using a proprietary mapping methodology that employs state-of-the-art large language models. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, human resources, and healthcare support professions.
