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Fairer pay in the public sector: Gender and new Canadian pay gaps in the public and private sectors, 2025 (CCPA)
Using 2025 Labour Force Survey data and adjusting for 15 worker characteristics, including education, tenure, age and location, this report by David Macdonald for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) isolates the pay gaps that remain by gender and immigration status in the public and private sectors. It finds that gaps persist in both but are much smaller in the public sector, where women are paid 4.9% more than equivalent private sector women, and that a “motherhood penalty” of 0.9% appears only in the private sector while men with children earn a premium in both. The report also finds that recent immigrants face the widest pay gaps in either sector, and cautions that aligning public sector pay with the private sector would cut pay for women and new Canadians in health care, education and public administration.
Kick-start: How to ignite entrepreneurship among young Canadians (RBC Thought Leadership)
Drawing on a multi-decade history of youth entrepreneurship built from more than 1.2 billion cells of Statistics Canada data and interviews with young founders, this report finds that the number of self-employed Canadians aged 20 to 39 is at a two-decade high but the share who own a business with employees is down 40%, from one in 35 to one in 57. It identifies four archetypes of young entrepreneurs, with one-person operations making up 80% of self-employment, and points to fear of failure (the highest among 22 peer economies), thin scale-up capital and a lack of mentorship as key constraints. It recommends measuring success by first hires and three-year survival, simplifying federal programs, closing the scale-up gap with anchor customers and operator-led mentorship, and lowering the personal cost of failure.
Political Uncertainty Has Some Canadian Employers Putting Hiring Plans on Hold (Express Employment Professionals & The Harris Poll)
Based on surveys conducted by The Harris Poll for Express Employment Professionals among 508 Canadian hiring decision-makers and 508 jobseekers in May and June 2026, this release finds that 60% of hiring managers say the political climate is affecting their company, with 40% reporting a negative impact. Among employers planning to cut or hold headcount steady in the second half of the year, 21% cite recession concerns and 14% are waiting to see the outcome of government policy changes, while 36% of jobseekers say politics has hurt their ability to find work. It also reports that 61% of hiring managers say rising costs have affected their ability to operate or grow, and that 92% of jobseekers say rising costs have influenced their decision to look for a new job.
Canada’s Health Workforce: An integrated summary based on Statistics Canada data, 2025 (Statistics Canada)
Released Oct. 19, this study draws on the Labour Force Survey, the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, and the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours to examine employment, vacancies, workforce composition and wages across health occupations from 2016 to 2025. It finds that just over 1.7 million people worked in health occupations in 2025, up 19.4% from 2019, with registered nursing occupations seeing the largest increase since before the pandemic. Job vacancies in the sector have eased from their 2023 peak but remain elevated, at a rate of 4.5% compared with 2.7% overall and 12.3% for licensed practical nurses, while inflation-adjusted wages for core-aged registered nurses fell 1.4% between 2019 and 2025.
The Financial Impact of Caregiving: Findings Report (Edward Jones & Age Wave)
Based on a Harris Poll survey of 2,152 Canadian and 3,223 US financial caregivers, this report examines the money, time and career costs of helping manage a loved one’s finances. In Canada, an estimated 3.6 million people are financial caregivers to an adult aged 65 or older; 71% entered the role with little or no planning, and 92% spend their own money, with average unreimbursed spending of $7,025 a year. Some also make career sacrifices, with 22% giving up a career opportunity or promotion and 21% stopping work entirely, even as 76% of Canadian financial caregivers are employed.
