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2025 Salary Guide provides valuable insights into the hiring plans of employers
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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What do you eagerly anticipate each year? Is it Halloween, Christmas or Summer? Maybe a boat show, pumpkin spice lattes or the premier of The Amazing Race? For those of us in the labour market information game, we eagerly await the release of the annual Salary Guide from Robert Half Canada.
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The 2025 Canada Salary Guide is an essential resource for career professionals, employers and job seekers. The research examines labour market dynamics, benefits and perks, and starting salaries for hundreds of positions in various professional fields across Canada.
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And while this research discusses very specific occupations in cities like Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria, it also provides amazing insights into employer behaviour.
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In our Motivating Monday sessions, I'm often talking about how we can be subject matter experts and it is research such as this which allows us to be able to walk into local employers and share the latest emerging trends in hiring and recruitment.
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While they have an interactive website that provides unique insights and allows you to research specific occupations, we can also see a few trends in the 2025 data.
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Here are five key findings from the research:
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Salary is top of mind. More than 9 in 10 professionals (92 per cent) are concerned about inflation outpacing salary growth, while 51 per cent report feeling underpaid. One-third of workers said they'll look for a new role if their employer does not raise their salary. Salary remains the top thing professionals want in a new job (60 per cent), while 32 per cent of hiring managers say they are increasing starting salaries specifically to attract new hires.
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AI is impacting hiring. AI, machine learning and automation projects are high priorities for firms across Canada. Managers report that AI is leading to a shift in high-demand skills (51 per cent), more contract workers or consultants (40 per cent), increased hiring (32 per cent), and outsourcing of projects (29 per cent). Embracing continuous learning and focusing on skill-building efforts, while investing in employee training and fueling innovation is crucial.
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Flexibility remains essential. Many professionals in Canada (44 per cent) prefer two to three days per week at the office, while employers would on average prefer their teams in office four days per week. However, employers know they need to offer flexibility to hire top talent; 32 per cent of workers who are looking for a new job say more flexibility is the main reason why. Thirty-nine per cent of managers are offering hybrid jobs specifically to attract skilled talent, while 37 per cent are offering flexible schedules for the same reason.
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Long hiring cycles take a toll. Employers who don't streamline their hiring processes and pick up the pace of hiring for crucial roles risk paying a price. Managers report long hiring cycles are leading to high turnover due to heavy workloads (44 per cent), higher recruitment costs (42 per cent), losing top candidates to competitors (40 per cent), and delayed or cancelled projects (39 per cent).
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Succession is a concern. A lack of suitable succession candidates (42 per cent), insufficient upskilling programs (39 per cent), and having internal candidates uninterested in leadership roles (35 per cent) are some of the top succession challenges businesses face. To counter this, many are focusing on upskilling employees, hiring and training high-potential candidates, and bringing in contract talent.
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For professionals looking to boost their earning potential, Robert Half recommends the following strategies:
- Leverage resources like the 2025 Salary Guide to research current salary ranges.
- Evaluate the entire compensation package, including benefits and perks, and explore options to improve work-life flexibility.
- Prioritize skill development and pursue relevant training and certifications to boost your marketability.
- Explore contract positions that provide exposure to different projects, teams, work environments and industries.
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While the Salary Guide focuses on a lot of technical, managerial and administrative roles, I believe there are lessons here for local employers who are hiring for any typical roles in job development from front line customer service to trades and construction.
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For employers, I believe it is critical for them to establish industry-average wages but then build in other perks and benefits such as skills training, flexible scheduling and for them to be able to make immediate hiring decisions. In a hot job market, employers will lose the most talented workers to other job opportunities if they take too long in hiring.
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For job seekers, a desire to work on-site; demonstrate enthusiasm; a desire to move into leadership; and an ability to work with artificial intelligence and other forms of technology are going to be key benefits employers are looking for.
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Clearly this Salary Guide demonstrates that employers are not getting the workers they traditionally are trying to recruit and perhaps faced with this data, employers are willing to look at other populations that are typically underrepresented in the labour market. This can be a tremendous advantage to job developers.
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We’ll be discussing the 2025 Salary Survey and what both employers and job seekers can learn from it at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Tuesday Oct. 15th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Tuesday October 15th, 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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