Canada Hiring Plans and Challenges 2024

Over half (54%) of hiring managers are actively seeking talent for new roles, mostly to support company growth, and organizations are primed to move ahead with strategic initiatives.

However, competition for professionals with in-demand skills remains high. While most managers (64%) say it takes longer to hire now than a year ago, they risk losing skilled people to competitors if they don’t speed things up.

At Robert Half, we know talent. This report can help you navigate the nuances of today’s challenging labour market to make the best decisions for your company’s unique hiring needs. Schedule a walk-through with one of our talent solutions professionals today.

What the hiring market looks like right now

In the first half of 2024, 54% of companies plan to add new roles, 40% plan to fill vacated roles, and 68% plan to increase contract hiring. The factors influencing hiring are anticipated company growth (64%), lack of requisite skills among employees (50%), capitalizing on talent laid off from other companies (48%) and turnover (48%). Hiring varies by industry and organization and is dictated by both business needs and macro-economics. See Statistic Canada’s data below.

Unemployment rate: 5.8% (February)

Jobs Increased : 41,000 (February)

Full remote, hybrid, and temporary remote openings rate: 34.7% (February 2024)

*Small = Less than 100 employees; Midsize = 100 to 999 employees; Large = 1,000+ employees

Organizations of all sizes are hiring in the first half of 2024, especially midsize and large companies. However, 89% of managers report difficulty finding skilled talent — with over a third (38%) saying it’s very challenging.

Hiring
for new
roles Hiring for
vacated
positions Freezing hiring/
eliminating
roles Hiring
for new
roles Hiring for
vacated
positions Freezing hiring/
eliminating
roles

Finance and
Accounting Technology Marketing and
Creative Legal Administration Customer
Support Human
Resources Finance and
Accounting Technology Marketing and
Creative Legal Administration Customer
Support Human
Resources

Entry level Entry level

Managerial Managerial

Director and above Director and above

Company growth Lack of requisite
skills among
current employees Employee turnover Company growth Lack of requisite
skills among
current employees Employee turnover

We know talent and want to help

Find skilled candidates and learn how to create a scalable staffing strategy: Schedule a walk-through Learn more

Finding people
with the required
skills Hiring quickly
enough to land
the best talent Meeting applicants’
salary expectations Finding candidates
who align with
company culture Finding people
with the required
skills Hiring quickly
enough to land
the best talent Meeting applicants’
salary expectations Finding candidates
who align with
company culture

Industry calculations are based on job postings provided by Textkernel. Positions are categorized to over 350 job titles within Robert Half’s 2024 Salary Guide 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, and human resources professions.

Data from Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey January 2024. Updated March 8, 2024.

Surveys were developed by Robert Half and conducted by independent research firms. Respondents included executives, senior managers and workers from small (20-249 employees), medium (250-499 employees) and large (500+ employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.