You’ve been at your new job for a few months now and it’s becoming clear that you dislike it. However, with the current economic uncertainty, many Canadians are hesitant to seek new opportunities.
This sentiment is reflected in Canadian employment statistics and the stories of individuals hired post-pandemic, giving rise to the concept of ‘job hugging’ – where individuals stay in their roles despite feeling dissatisfied.
One public relations professional in her 30s shared her experience with the Cost of Living during a recent interview. Despite feeling unfulfilled and lacking growth opportunities in her late 2025 job, she remains in the position.
She expressed the common fear of job scarcity, stating, “I just hear all the time that no one’s hiring and that we should all just be lucky to even have jobs. It’s discouraging.”
According to data from the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada, the job switching rate in January 2022 was 0.82%, which decreased to 0.41% in 2026.
Economic uncertainty and reduced financial incentives from companies are cited as key factors driving the increase in ‘job huggers,’ according to labor market observers.
“People know it’s a dangerous world out there. So we’re just going to hunker down and hang on to whatever we’ve got,” explained Jim Stanford, a labor economist and director of the Centre for Future Work in Vancouver.
A Shift in Dynamics
Following the pandemic, it was an employee’s market, with many individuals leaving their jobs, creating a labor shortage, as per Mike Shekhtman, senior regional director at Robert Half, a prominent employment agency in Canada.
Previously, companies enticed employees with various benefits like meditation rooms, flexible work arrangements, and competitive salaries, making job-switching common for salary increases.
However, the current market does not guarantee substantial pay raises for job changes, with 56% of surveyed workers now seeing better salary potential in staying put, as per a study by Robert Half.
Given the rise in Canada’s unemployment rate to 6.9% and the “low-hire, low-fire environment” dubbed by the Bank of Canada, job opportunities have become scarce, leading to cautious hiring practices and employee reluctance to leave stable positions.
“Companies are more methodical in terms of the hiring that they’re doing, in terms of who they’re adding to the team and where they’re investing,” Shekhtman noted.
<p