What the hiring market looks like right now

In the second half of 2024, 52% of companies plan to add new roles, 41% plan to fill vacated roles, and 58% plan to increase contract hiring. The factors influencing hiring are anticipated company growth (50%), employee turnover (41%), project-based needs (39%), and lack of requisite skills among employees (38%). Hiring varies by industry and organization and is dictated by both business needs and macro-economics. See Statistic Canada’s data below. Unemployment rate: 6.6% (August) Jobs Increased: 22,000 (August) Full remote, hybrid, and temporary remote openings rate: 39% (Q2 2024)
*Small = Less than 100 employees; Midsize = 100 to 999 employees; Large = 1,000+ employees  Organizations of all sizes are hiring in the second half of 2024. However, 90% of managers report difficulty finding skilled talent — with a third (33%) 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 Employee turnover Project-based or
short-term needs
Company growth Employee turnover Project-based or
short-term needs

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Lack of applicants
with the required
skill sets
Finding candidates
who align with
company culture
Hiring quickly
enough to land
the best talent
Meeting applicants’
salary expectations
Finding people
with the required
skills
Finding candidates
who align with
company culture
Hiring quickly
enough to land
the best talent
Meeting applicants’
salary expectations
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 August 2024. Updated September 6, 2024.  Surveys were developed by Robert Half and conducted by independent research firms. Respondents included executives, senior managers and workers from small (1-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-10,000 or more employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.