Read the full February Edition of Strategic HR to understand how a lower vacancy stock is reshaping hiring governance
Canada’s labour market remains firmly selective. Available jobs fell by over 59,000 from November 2024 to 2025 even as payroll employment rose from 5% — shifting advantage back towards employers so long as HR teams tighten requisition discipline and selection proof.
The clearest competitive signal is still utilities. This month it leads year-on-year vacancy growth, and once again tops wage growth, with median hourly pay rising to $55.00. For employers competing for safety-critical and credentialled talent, this is the month’s blunt message: national job cooling does not translate into relief where substitution is limited.
Tribunal risk is also becoming more operationally specific. The Quebec Transportation Board caseload rose significantly this month. For HR in Québec logistics and transport-adjacent employers, the practical exposure is enforceable compliance in roles where training records, supervision, and documentation can decide outcomes.
What’s inside the February edition:
Wages by industry:
- Utilities: $51.28 to $55.00 (+7.3%), a high-signal repricing of safety-critical, regulated talent.
- Manufacturing and finance-related industries rose 6.3% and 6.1%, evidence that job cooling does not mean uniform payroll relief.
Tenure:
- Information, culture and recreation: average tenure fell by nine months, signaling retention problems that pay, compelling work or a tough job market alone rarely fix.
- Manufacturing, construction, transport, utilities, and finance-related industries all posted declines, raising replacement costs and elevating employee-relations risk when exits are poorly documented.
Unemployment:
- Overall unemployment was broadly stable year-on-year, but the gender split shifted: Men up and women down.
- Year-on-year declines for all age groups. Month-on-month declines for most, once again with the exception of those ages 30-to-39
Read the full February Edition of Strategic HR to understand how a lower vacancy stock is reshaping hiring governance, why utilities now set a market-wide reference point for scarce-skill pay, and how tenure and tribunal signals are converging into a practical 2026 agenda: tighter documentation, clearer progression, and disciplined workforce decision-making.
