It is now nearly two months into 2025 and we’re starting to get a feel for the year.
Tech layoffs were down markedly in 2024 from 2023. In 2025, companies are ready to hire again, PwC’s Global CEO Survey found.
Moving forward, 60% of chief executive officers anticipate growth over the next year, a figure that is up from 38% last year and 18% two years ago. According to the 28th annual PwC report, nearly half of CEOs expect to increase their headcount in 2025.
But hiring companies in Canada continue to battle with brain drain. This is partly because tech talent in the U.S. earns a lot more money on average than in Canada.
Despite this challenge, Canada’s major tech hubs have been growing steadily for many years.
iNovia Capital’s “State of Canadian Software” recently performed a “deep dive” into the country’s primary tech hubs, charting growth since 2020. Toronto, Canada’s largest hub, has a tech workforce of well over 300,000 following five-year growth of over 40%. The region ranks fourth in North America for growth.
Ottawa, the fastest-growing workforce over five years, expanded by more than 50% to nearly 100,000 strong. It’s 10th in North America. Vancouver has a bigger tech workforce than Ottawa but it grew more slowly, gaining 31% over five years, and slots in 11th across NA.
Montreal, with the second largest workforce in Canada behind Toronto, grew 30%. Waterloo’s smaller force expanded by 46%.
These tech hubs each have close to 10% of their entire workforces dedicated to tech, marking some of the highest densities of tech talent on the continent.
While tech is doing well overall in Canada, some sectors have been having talent struggles that continue into 2025.
Canada’s generally hot video game industry, for example, has downsized 3% since 2021, battered by “significant challenges coming out of the pandemic.” A recent example of this trend persisting in 2025 is Vancouver’s Phoenix Labs.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, the cybersecurity space cannot fill all the voids it seeks to. Canada has “experienced a terrifying rise in ransomware attacks in the last few years,” Check Point Software engineering head Robert Falzon recently reminded readers of TechTalent.ca—a concerning trend surely worsened by a nationwide dearth of roughly 25,000 cybersecurity positions.
So far, Canada’s established base of tech talent remains afloat in 2025 as the country navigates uncertain waters with cautious optimism.
