2025 Canada Human Resources (HR) Job Market Trends

3.2%* March 2025 unemployment rate

Human resources leaders face challenges such as personnel budget constraints, declining employee engagement and technical debt. Hiring skilled professionals remains difficult due to low unemployment in the profession, and increased competition for talent.

The rapid evolution of workplace technology and shifting employee expectations have created additional complexities for HR departments. Organizations must invest in new systems while managing hybrid work arrangements and demonstrating measurable impact on workforce performance, employee engagement and talent retention.

Strategic priorities for 2025

HR leaders shared what they’re focusing on this year:

Training and development

Talent acquisition and recruitment

Strategic workforce planning

Employee engagement

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Compensation and benefits

Budget
constraints
for headcount Employee
engagement Technical
debt Cross-
functional
collaboration Change
management Budget
constraints
for headcount Employee
engagement Technical
debt Cross-
functional
collaboration Change
management

HR roles demand greater tech expertise

The growing complexity of HR functions, coupled with the rapid adoption of new technology, has led to a demand for professionals with more specialized skills, including cloud-based HR platforms and virtual collaboration tools. Organizations are also looking for employees with expertise in HR analytics and workforce planning, employee experience design, regulatory compliance, and risk management.

52% of HR leaders reported skills gaps within their department, and 48% said the impact of those gaps has increased in the past year.

Learning and
development Operations
development General HR Recruitment Learning and
development Operations
development General HR Recruitment

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Almost all HR leaders need to add new staff or at least maintain current headcounts to deliver on top business priorities. Yet 91% of those hiring said it’s challenging to find skilled talent in the current market.

of HR leaders are hiring for new permanent positions of HR leaders are hiring for new permanent positions

are hiring only for vacated permanent positions. are hiring only for vacated permanent positions.

Hiring plans for 2025 — contract professionals

42% of HR leaders said they’re increasing their use of contract talent. They also shared the difficulties they’re having finding these professionals.

Finding candidates who align with corporate culture

Meeting salary expectations

Difficulty assessing skills and experience

Lack of skilled candidates

HR professionals in highest demand

The following positions are in the top 30% of HR roles in demand, according to an analysis of thousands of job postings and Robert Half placements.

Learn more about the top roles in demand

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*Statistics Canada, seasonally adjusted, April 2025.

The surveys cited were developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Results may not total 100% due to rounding or allowing for multiple responses. Respondents included executives, hiring managers and workers from small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.

Over 200,000 new positions from more than 5,400 unique job boards and company websites provided by TextKernel are represented in our analysis of in-demand roles, including 6,000-plus placements from Robert Half. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, and human resources professions. 