Skills, Wages, and Job Accessibility in Q4 2025
Job posting data in the fourth quarter of 2025 highlight a labour market that remains highly accessible, while also showing gradual wage improvements across several sectors. Health occupations and natural and applied sciences posted the highest median wages, while utilities led sector-level wage growth
Employers most frequently requested communication, customer service, management, driving, and organizational skills, underscoring the importance of transferable skills across industries. Notably, over 80% of job postings did not specify education or experience requirements, continuing a trend seen throughout 2025.
Wages increased modestly:
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Average posted wage: $28.61
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Median posted wage: $23.69
While many jobs remain accessible to a wide range of jobseekers, higher wages and long-term stability are increasingly concentrated in skilled and technical roles. Supporting skills development and career progression remains critical to improving job quality across the region.
Check out the Q4 Labour Market Insights Report to find the latest local data on the labour market in Durham Region.
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.