Latest report shows sector unloads 25,000 jobs in Q1 2025
OTTAWA, ON (May 19, 2025) — Trucking HR Canada’s most recent labour market information shows significant changes in our labour force, painting an interesting picture of the industry’s current state.
In the first quarter of 2025, employment across the trucking and logistics industry decreased by a staggering 25,000 positions compared to the same period in 2024.
“Interestingly, none of the jobs lost were truck drivers,” says Craig Faucette, Chief Program Officer, THRC. “While job losses of this magnitude are not unprecedented — 26,800 jobs were lost in Q1 2021, and even more in Q1 2023 (68,200) — this is the first time the industry has seen job losses that did not include truck drivers.”
The average across all industries in Canada was a 1.9% increase in Q1 2025.
More highlights from the report:
- Significant employment losses were seen in management, administration, finance, and HR-related occupations, which collectively dropped by 17% or 16,400 jobs.
- Shippers and receivers experienced a decline in employment by 6,900 positions or 6.7%.
- Courier and delivery drivers saw a reduction of 3,600 jobs or 3% year over year.
Compared to other groups, the employment of transport truck drivers increased marginally by 1.5% or 4,800 workers.
Despite this slight uptick in truck drivers, the overall unemployment rate within the sector and the transport truck driver occupation remained relatively stable in Q1 2025 compared to the previous year. However, the number of unemployed workers in the sector declined by 22,100 or 2.7%, while the number of unemployed truck drivers increased by 1.6% or 5,500.
If both employment and unemployment are decreasing, it means that the total supply of labour is decreasing. This could be because people are dropping out of the labour market altogether or that they are leaving for jobs in other sectors.
On the other hand, for transport truck drivers the unemployment rate stayed roughly the same but the number of unemployed drivers increased slightly (as did employment), indicating an increase in the supply of drivers.
As the only national, non-profit, workforce development council for the trucking and logistics sector and its most trusted source of labour market information, THRC will continue to monitor workforce impacts on our sector, informing THRC programs that can help employers.
THRC’s labour market information is prepared by our team of analysts using customized data drawn from Statistics Canada’s Census and Labour Force Survey information, as well as qualitative and quantitative research from employers to fill gaps in the publicly available data.
THRC’s labour market information informs a variety of programs that help meet the industry’s HR challenges by providing relevant, accurate, timely, and actionable data. Trucking HR Canada is committed to providing employment information and developing strategies to help the sector meet the demands of the changing supply chain landscape.
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