The new Business Outlook Survey is here. Here are the key takeaways for the staffing industry.

For the staffing industry in Canada, the latest Business Outlook Survey (BOS) from the Bank of Canada offers a cautious narrative: yes, sentiment is inching upward, but the underlying conditions remain far from robust. That leaves staffing firms in a “waiting-for-lift-off” posture rather than one of full-throttle hiring.

According to the BOS release, conducted between August 7 and September 3, 2025, firms’ outlooks and intentions remain “subdued despite a gradual improvement in sentiment and a slight easing of perceived uncertainty.”  Expectations for growth in both domestic and export sales remain soft.  Employers continue to signal few capacity constraints or labour shortages, an unusual feature in a labour market that many staffing firms long assumed would be tight. 

Digging deeper, the BOS finds that most businesses do not plan to increase staff levels over the next 12 months, with many instead focusing on routine maintenance rather than expansion. At the same time, wage-growth expectations continue to trend lower and are now close to pre-pandemic levels.  In short: soft demand, trade-tension worries, and cost pressures are dampening the appetite for new hiring.

However, there is a glimmer of movement in the staffing market. The CSJ Hiring Index rose to 5.4 out of 10 in September, up from 4.8 in August. The index remains firmly below a “neutral” 6 or 7 reading, but this uptick signals that some employers are beginning to reopen pipelines or at least entertain the idea of hiring more actively.

What staffing firms should take away

Combining the two sets of signals (the BOS and the CSJ index) gives a nuanced picture for staffing firms. On one hand, the BOS warns of broad softness: many firms are not hiring because they simply don’t need more staff under current demand conditions. On the other hand, the CSJ index suggests modest revival in parts of the market, albeit uneven and selective.

From a staffing-market vantage, here’s what to watch and what to prepare for: