Summer job postings are stabilizing after a three-year decline, according to a new report from Indeed Hiring Lab, but young Canadians are once again entering another soft labor market. The report indicates that while employers' hiring appetites have not rebounded this summer, they have not deteriorated either.
Current Trends in Summer Job Postings
National summer job postings were up four percent in early May compared to a year ago, according to data from Indeed. The report tracked Canadian postings on Indeed.com that included the term 'summer' (or 'ete') in the job title. It noted that the annual hiring cycle usually ramps up in January and cools off mid-May. Despite this slight increase, summer job postings are still down 37 percent from their 2022 peak, with three consecutive years of declines between 2023 and 2025.
Most Common Summer Job Categories
Indeed Hiring Lab found that summer camp jobs were the most common category, making up 13 percent of summer job postings as of early May, down from 15 percent from the same time last year. There was also higher seasonal demand for a range of jobs, including painters, warehouse workers, administrative assistants, and youth and community care workers.
Broader Labor Market Impact
One factor that influences the summer job market is the strength of the broader labor market and who is available to work, said Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed Hiring Lab. Bernard explained that workers in a strong economy tend to change jobs more often and move up the career ladder into higher paying positions. However, in a weaker market, they stay in their current roles or take on lower-level jobs when opportunities are scarce.
If workers are not moving on, employers do not need to backfill those roles, and new entrants to the labor market need to find something else to do, Bernard said. And if the job market is weak, there might not be that many options.
Economic Context
Bernard noted that summer job postings evolve in line with broader economic trends. We have been in a time of subdued economic growth, so employers are not clamoring for workers, he said. The unemployment rate is in the range of seven percent, which is not too high, but it is definitely up substantially from where it was during the really hot post-pandemic labor market.
Youth Employment Challenges
Canada's youth job market has been in distress since 2023, the report said, particularly among teens ages 15 to 19. While youth employment usually jumps when the school year ends, that trend has recently been more muted. During years with stronger labor markets, such as 2018, 2019, and 2022, Bernard's analysis found that youth employment rates rose by an average of 11 percentage points on a non-seasonally adjusted basis between March and the peak in July. Since 2023, the jumps have been in the range of 9.1 to 9.4 percentage points, on average, a net 16 percent drop in the rate of youth entering summer employment, the report said.
