According to the latest data from the Angus Reid Institute Canada’s labour market has spent much of 2026 treading water. In a news release, they say after eight months of alternating gains and losses, the country has added just 26,000 net jobs since the beginning of the year, including a loss of 42,000 positions in August.

The layoff rate is 0.8 per cent which is slightly below a year ago, but the Institute suggests that other indicators are pointing to a labour market offering fewer opportunities.

There are now nearly three unemployed Canadians for every vacant position in the country, almost triple the ratio seen during the labour shortages of 2022 and well above the roughly two-to-one ratio that prevailed before the pandemic.

Nearly nine-in-10 employed Canadians, or 87 per cent, describe their current jobs as secure, unchanged from this time last year. But among those looking for work themselves or who know someone who is, more than three-quarters at 77 per cent describe the job search as “bad” or “terrible.”

And looking ahead to the next 12 months, Canadians are more pessimistic than optimistic. Three-in-10 say they’ll be worse off at this time next year, while 19 per cent expect an improvement, and a 44 per cent expect more of the same.