In July 2025, over 2,100 Canadian employers shared their perspectives through the Workforce Pulse survey, Canada’s first coordinated rapid-response labour market intelligence initiative. Delivered in partnership with 14 national sectoral and workforce development organizations, this pilot survey provides a limited time employer sentiment snapshot—a strategic view of how businesses within participating partner networks are navigating trade disruptions, policy uncertainty, staffing pressures, and evolving workforce needs.
The July Workforce Pulse highlights both the broad themes that cut across industries and the sector-specific insights that reveal the diversity of employer experiences:
- Employers identified workforce uncertainties: Tariffs, government policies, lending conditions, global market dynamics, recruitment and retention challenges, and skills shortages are the main factors driving workforce uncertainty.
- Impacts vary significantly across industries: Manufacturing, construction, transportation, and retail sectors, which are heavily reliant on global supply chains, reported higher levels of tariff disruption, skill shortages and workforce strain. Industries less directly affected by tariffs, such as mining, energy and electricity, reported stability, but also labour shortages.
- Positive employment climate: Respondents to the survey indicated that while disruption is real, widespread job losses are not planned. Of the 2,100 employer responses, fewer than 10% anticipate planned staff reductions, while roughly 8 in 10 employers expect to maintain or grow their staff over the next 90 days, though this varies by sector.
Broad Takeaway
The late Summer 2025 Workforce Pulse Survey revealed a clear signal: Despite challenges stretching its limit, Canada’s labour market remains resilient. This is evident in the fact that less than 10 per cent of employers anticipated reducing staff in the next three months. Employers across sectors continue to face mounting pressures from policy uncertainty, US-Canada tariffs, and rising costs. A key domestic challenge remains a priority for workforce development and policymakers: addressing the growing skills gap through establishing a talent pipeline between what employers need and what job seekers have to offer.
Sector Highlights
| Sector Council | Sector | Tariff Impact | Key Workforce Challenges | Other Observations |
| ECO Canada | Environmental consulting and non-profits | Slightly to somewhat disruptive | Two-thirds of environmental consulting firms and half of not-for-profits reported that professionals/specialists are the most difficult roles to fill. | Workforce planning has been impacted largely by workload or project uncertainty (environmental consulting) and budget constraints (not-for-profits). |
| Tourism HR Canada | Tourism | Somewhat disruptive | Frontline workers and management/supervisory positions are driving labour challenges. More labour data on the tourism sector can be found here. | Sector-level tariff impacts were unevenly felt across tourism, but those with the highest levels of disruption also had incidences of staffing shortages. |
| Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium | Manufacturing | Very disruptive | Skilled trades/technical, general labourer and supervisory positions most challenging roles to fill. | Investments in projects and workforce growth are hindered by uncertainty and operational decisions, making planning more reactive than strategic.
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| Trucking HR Canada | Transportation and Warehousing | Very disruptive | Tariff uncertainty is disrupting cross-border employers, creating workforce planning challenges. | The sector remains focused on hiring and training staff despite the challenges of filling truck driver roles amidst tariffs. |
| Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace | Aviation and Aerospace | Very to Somewhat Disruptive | 75% of employers reported skilled trades/technical and professional/specialists as their top hiring priority with unfilled frontline roles being difficult to staff. | Skilled and experienced aircraft engineers reported as a high priority but challenging role to fill. |
| Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition | Metals and Equipment Manufacturing and other Industrial Sectors | Moderately to quite disruptive | Skilled trades, technical roles, and frontline production specialists most challenging to fill fueled by uncertainty. | Despite tariff pressures, employers are prioritizing productivity gains, hiring and retraining as top priorities. |
| Food Processing Skills Canada | Food and Beverage Manufacturing | Disruptive | A quarter of respondents reported facing challenges staffing frontline worker positions along with trades/technical. | Gaps in frontline, trades and technical positions caused by varying tariff impacts across subsector causing disruptions. |
| BuildForce Canada | Construction | Somewhat disruptive | Difficulties staffing skilled labour and management/supervisory positions. | US-Canada trade conflict has reduced investment in the sector, especially residential construction. |
| Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council | Agriculture | Somewhat disruptive | Farm and skilled labour and supervisory positions amongst hardest roles to fill. | Producers are seeking employees to avoid production delays despite concerns over labour costs. |
| Canadian Green Building Council | Green Building | Somewhat disruptive | Slowdown in new entrants and retirements causing a shortage in skilled labour. | Respondents cited increased hiring and upskilling as key priority. |
| Careers in Energy | Energy Exploration, Production and Energy Services | Slightly disruptive | Skilled trades/technical, general labour and supervisory positions amongst hardest to fill. | 90% of employers expect to maintain or grow staff in the next 90 days while navigating workload/project uncertainty. |
| Electricity Human Resources Canada | Electricity | Slightly disruptive | Workload and project uncertainty causing workforce related challenges. | Respondents suspect to increase staffing; however, concerns over the long-term indirect effects of tariffs on the industry are prevalent. |
| BioTalent Canada | Bioeconomy | Slightly disruptive | Technical trades, sales/marketing and leadership roles, and professional/specialist among most challenging to fill. | Despite budgetary concerns, many organizations suspect to increase their staff. |
| Mining Industry Human Resources Council | Mining | Not disruptive | Skilled trades and technical occupations among most challenging to fill. | Mining companies have reported little tariff impact and suspect to increase/retain staff. |
Next Steps – Complete the Fall 2025 Workforce Pulse Survey!
ECO Canada and thirteen national sector councils are conducting a late Fall 2025 survey to follow up on the findings from the summer 2025 survey to see how employer sentiment has changed. Your participation in the survey is vital to collect real-time insights on staffing conditions, workforce challenges, hiring and recruitment barriers, and workforce needs. Key industry intelligence that will be shared with policymakers to make targeted workforce investments and responsive policy measures.
For more information on the Workforce Pulse Survey, please visit our Environmental Workforce Pulse webpage.
