Wages continue to climb in certain provinces, even as overall employment dips: survey
"Canadian small businesses aren't shutting down hiring, they're getting far more selective about where they place their bets.”
So says KJ Lee, CEO of Employment Hero Canada, in discussing their new survey results.
The new data shows small and medium-sized business wages rose 4.2% year-over-year in April, continuing to outpace inflation at 2.4% — even as overall SMB employment declined 0.9% nationally.
The findings, drawn from labour market activity across nearly 3,000 Canadian SMBs, follow Statistics Canada's latest Labour Force Survey which suggests the national labour market remains in a holding pattern, with overall employment largely unchanged in April amid ongoing economic uncertainty.
Summer-facing sectors leading the charge
While hiring remains soft overall, businesses tied to seasonal consumer demand are showing stronger momentum. Employment across retail, hospitality and tourism rose 3.8% year-over-year in April, while wages in those sectors climbed 10.6% — the strongest wage growth recorded across all industries tracked in the dataset, according to Employment Hero.
Lee points to the practical reality facing consumer-facing businesses as patios reopen and the summer travel season begins.
"Businesses tied to consumer demand don't have the luxury of waiting things out," he says. "If patios are filling up, festivals are around the corner and customers are spending, employers need people on the ground now."
The data also points to a shift in how SMBs are structuring their workforces, with casual employment rising 12.7% year-over-year — suggesting employers are increasingly leaning on flexible staffing models.
"SMBs are under pressure from every direction: wage expectations, operating costs and an economy that still feels unpredictable," says Lee. "That doesn't mean hiring stops. It means businesses become sharper and far more pragmatic about how they build teams."
A fragmented regional picture
National labour market headlines often focus on aggregate trends, but regional SMB performance tells a more uneven story, according to Employment Hero.
Several regions continued to outperform in April despite broader softness:
- Saskatchewan saw employment up 5.7% with wages up 5.7%
- Alberta posted employment growth of 2.0% and wage growth of 5.4%
- Nova Scotia recorded employment up 4.7%
- New Brunswick saw employment up 2.5%
- Quebec’s employment was up 3.8%.
Ontario and British Columbia showed softer employment figures — down 1.8% and 4.4% respectively — though wages continued to climb in both provinces, rising 3.3% in Ontario and 5.5% in Vancouver.
"National headlines rarely tell the whole story," says Lee. "What this data shows is that Canada's SMB economy isn't moving in one direction. Some regions and sectors are still growing aggressively, while others are becoming more cautious — and many businesses are trying to balance both realities at once."
