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What industries are hiring right now in Canada? 2026 update

Salary and hiring trends Job Market Article Research and insights Finding a job
Canadian employers are actively hiring. Robert Half's latest Demand for Skilled Talent report found 58% of company leaders plan to increase permanent headcount in the second half of 2026, and 45% expect to bring on more contract talent. What does the job postings data tell us about overall hiring trends? Robert Half tracked 184,327 professional job postings in Canada in the first half of 2026, down about 19% on the same period last year. Within 2026, though, the direction has turned. Postings rose 9% between the first and second quarters, and eight of the nine industries tracked gained ground. For a monthly view of national employment gains and losses, see Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey. This article covers where Robert Half's postings data shows demand concentrating and the roles employers recruited most in each industry. All percentage figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

What industries are hiring in Canada?

Four industries account for most of the activity. Business and professional services, manufacturing and distribution, financial services and consumer products together produced 112,500 of the 184,327 postings tracked in the first half of 2026, 61% of the total. Business and professional services alone made up 34%. Healthcare held up well. Its postings fell 5% year over year, the smallest drop of any industry, and by the second quarter of 2026, it was running slightly ahead of the same quarter in 2025. Tech and IT and wholesale trade rebounded too, up 24% and 20% between the first and second quarters of this year.

Business and professional services hiring trends

Business and professional services generated the most openings among the industries Robert Half supports, with 63,090 postings in the first half of 2026. Technology work made up 29% of them, finance and accounting 27% and administrative and customer support 24%. Volumes fell around 20% year over year, the steepest drop of the four largest industries. Four of the sector’s 20 most-posted roles went the other way. Project coordinator led with 378 more postings than in the first half of 2025, ahead of senior software developer/developer at 119 and business analyst at 98. Senior web developer was up by two. These were the most posted roles in business and professional services: Finance and accounting Accounting clerk: 1,301 postingsSenior accountant: 1,199Bookkeeper: 1,017AR/AP clerk: 995Business analyst: 835Senior financial analyst: 772 Tech and IT Senior software developer/developer: 3,269 postingsSoftware developer: 1,885Full stack developer: 1,461Senior web developer: 779DevOps engineer: 717 Administrative and customer support Project coordinator: 2,878 postingsAdministrative assistant: 2,801Customer service specialist: 2,131Receptionist: 1,350Office manager: 1,056Executive assistant: 951

Consumer products hiring trends

Consumer products employers posted 14,194 professional roles in the first half of 2026, and almost half of them (6,468, or 46%) were administrative and customer support jobs. The most in-demand jobs in Canada within the industry were: Customer service specialist: 2,092 postingsCustomer service manager: 780Administrative assistant: 682Sales assistant: 668Receptionist: 651

Education services hiring trends

Universities, colleges and school boards posted 4,637 professional roles in the first half of 2026. Administrative and customer support accounted for 37% of them, finance and accounting 19%, technology 17% and marketing and creative 15%. Human resources and legal made up the remaining 11%.

Financial services hiring trends

Find your next job today Financial services employers posted 17,282 roles in the first half of 2026, 14% fewer than a year earlier but 8% up on the first quarter. Finance and accounting took 38% of those postings, technology 27% and administrative and customer support 23%. Legal was the only function in the industry to add postings year over year, rising from 251 to 298. The leading roles were: Customer service specialist: 1,788 postingsSenior software developer/developer: 963Administrative assistant: 723Mortgage underwriter: 608Client service representative: 477

Government hiring trends

Canada's public sector posted 6,028 professional roles in the first half of 2026, and it was the only industry in the data where postings fell between the first and second quarters, down 18%. Administrative and customer support accounted for 37% of the total, finance and accounting 25% and technology 14%. Administrative assistant led with 681 postings, followed by customer service specialist at 314 and accounting clerk at 242.

Manufacturing hiring trends

Manufacturers posted 17,934 professional roles in the first half of 2026, second only to business and professional services among the named industries. Administrative and customer support took 31% of them, finance and accounting 25% and technology 23%. Customer service specialist led with 1,401 postings, followed by administrative assistant at 916 and project coordinator at 702. Senior software developer/developer and software developer/developer added a further 1,251 between them. Legal was the one function here to grow, from 349 postings to 431.

Tech and IT hiring trends

The technology industry itself posted 3,195 roles in the first half of 2026, the smallest volume of any tracked industry. It also recorded the fastest quarterly recovery, up 24% from the first quarter to the second. Technology functions took 52% of its postings, marketing and creative 17% and finance and accounting 13%. Software developer led with 546 postings, and marketing manager followed with 171. The sharpest movement was in AI/ML engineer, which went from 42 postings in the first half of 2025 to 300 in the first half of 2026—a small number in absolute terms, but the largest year-over-year gain of any role in the industry.

Get more insights in Robert Half’s 2026 Demand for Skilled Talent report

Access Report A softer postings market hasn't made recruiting simple. Robert Half found 64% of business leaders are running into hiring problems tied to AI-generated applications, including the extra work of validating skills, spotting authentic resumes and verifying credentials. In response, 63% say they're more likely to seek help from a staffing firm like Robert Half. Employers can use the report to compare permanent and contract hiring plans against their own, and to work out where contract professionals could keep priority projects moving. If you're job hunting, the same figures point you toward the jobs in demand in Canada right now.

See our industry-specific analyses of in-demand roles and hiring trends

Want to dig deeper into expected hiring trends for the first half of 2026? See Robert Half’s data and analysis for these top fields: Finance and accountingTechnologyMarketing and creativeLegalAdministrative and customer supportHuman resources

Methodology

Search jobs Get hiring help Industry calculations are based on job postings provided by Textkernel. Positions are categorized into more than 360 job titles within Robert Half's 2027 Canada 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 resource professions
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