While economic growth and low unemployment remain positive indicators for a healthy job market, hiring has cooled in recent months. This is due to a combination of factors like inflation concerns, interest rate uncertainty, and the impact of tariffs. In addition, a broader slowdown in global economic growth has affected job creation in sectors reliant on international workers like tourism and agriculture.

On the bright side, new entrants to the workforce continue to find opportunities, even as some companies are scaling back on internship and co-op hiring. Meanwhile, the labor market’s cooling trend and changes in workplace culture are reshaping expectations for how jobs are done and what types of skills employers require.

Frontline roles like delivery drivers and food processing workers are expected to grow fastest in absolute terms, while healthcare-related jobs including nursing professionals and social work and counseling aides are also poised for significant gains. Education-related jobs including tertiary education teachers are also forecast to see strong growth. Technology-related roles with the highest growth in percentage terms include AI and machine learning specialists, software and application developers and cybersecurity analysts. Green and energy transition roles are also seeing robust demand.

To optimize their talent and business strategies, organizations should consider both short-term and long-term trends. Leading indicators such as job posting volumes, professional network activity and university recruitment enrollment provide early signals about future conditions, while lagging indicators like unemployment rates confirm current conditions. They should also recognize that trends in different categories often influence each other, for example, technological trends (increased automation) impact structural trends (fewer routine production jobs). Additionally, it is important to separate wage and salary data from broader economic and industry metrics.