Durham’s Labour Market at the Close of 2025: Stability, Shifts, and What Comes Next

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As 2025 came to a close, Durham Region’s labour market remained active, though signs of seasonal and structural adjustment became more apparent. The Q4 2025 Labour Market Insights Report highlights continued employer demand, steady participation across key sectors, and shifting hiring patterns as the year ended.

Between October and December 2025, employers posted 12,059 active job postings, with 3,487 unique employers hiring across the region. While hiring volumes eased slightly compared to Q3, this pattern aligns with typical year-end trends rather than a decline in overall labour demand. The average job posting remained open for 18.5 days, indicating that some employers are taking longer to fill roles.

What this means for Durham Region:

The data points to a labour market that remains stable but increasingly selective. Employers continue to hire, but competition for workers, particularly in high-demand and essential roles, is influencing recruitment timelines and expectations. For jobseekers, this indicates a labour market that is still offering opportunities, but one where competition and skill alignment matter more than they did earlier in the year.

About the DWA:

The DWA creates an annual plan supplying helpful information for community planning. Next month, the DWA will release its annual Labour Market Plan (LMP).

The plan focuses on the following:

  • Durham Region demographics change, migration trends in and out, educational attainment of residents, and changes in employers in the local area by employee size and 3-digit NAICs.
  • Enhanced Jobs First Durham (JFD) data extracted from the DWA’s boutique job board with hyper-local information.
  • An update on Employment Ontario data.

The DWA provides just-in-time custom labour market information and often conducts custom fee-for-service research. If you are interested in local data, please don’t hesitate to contact the DWA.

The Province of Ontario partially funds the DWA to supply Labour Market Information (LMI) to the Region of Durham.