By Eliza Hetrick
Aston Carter's quarterly Labour Market and Economy Report connects important dots between data and trends across Canada’s hiring landscape for accounting, finance, human resources, talent acquisition, procurement, supply chain and select administrative professions. Readers can expect to learn about job growth, wage growth, inflation, unemployment rates, labour force participation rates and other key factors that impact the attraction, hiring and retention of workers.
Canada’s economy added 99,300 jobs in Q2 2025, significantly higher than the 44,500 jobs added in Q1 2025. This growth was primarily driven by employment gains in June, when the economy added 83,100 jobs, while April and May employment gains were more subdued. The labour market continued to experience headwinds throughout the second quarter due to mounting uncertainty regarding international trade policies. Employment rose by 7,400 in April, 8,800 in May and 83,100 in June.
The unemployment rate increased from an average of 6.6% in Q1 2025 to 6.9% in Q2 2025.
Among the industries Aston Carter supports, Q2 2025 unemployment rates were as follows: healthcare (1.9%), utilities (2.0%), professional, scientific and technical services (3.3%), manufacturing (3.9%), and construction (6.7%).
Year-over-year inflation remained close to the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) 2.0% target in Q2, ending at 1.9% in June. At both its April and June meetings, the Bank of Canada (BoC) decided to maintain its key interest rate, citing ongoing uncertainty over U.S. tariffs, a Canadian economy that remains soft but not markedly weaker and unexpected firmness in recent inflation data.
The year-over-year average hourly wage rate for all employees increased by 3.3% from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025, 0.3% below the annual wage growth observed in Q1. In terms of “real” earnings (adjusted for inflation), wages continue to outpace inflation.
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