Canada graduate employment study shows permanent full-time work eases in 2025

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Canada 2025 graduate jobs study

Highlights

Permanent, full-time employment rate for Canadians aged 25–34 with a bachelor's degree or higher falls to 69% in 2025, below trades at 71%.
Average hourly wage for university graduates rises to $39.18 in 2025, outpacing trades at $34.71 and high school graduates at $28.77.
In 2025, women with a bachelor's degree or higher earn $0.92 for every dollar earned by men, with 62% working permanent full-time jobs if they have young children.

Labour market trends for young graduates

As reported by Statistics Canada, a new study in Insights on Canadian Society examines how non-students aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher are faring in the labour market using annual Labour Force Survey data. The study tracks permanent full-time employment, wages, collective bargaining coverage, pension access and overqualification, while also comparing outcomes across education levels and by gender.

In 2025, young adults with a bachelor's degree or higher post a 69% rate of employment in permanent, full-time roles. That is slightly below the 71% recorded among those with a trades certificate or diploma, but above the 56% seen for high school graduates and the 43% recorded for those without a high school diploma.

University graduates also continue to earn more than workers with other levels of education. Their average hourly wage reaches $39.18 in 2025, compared with $34.71 for people with a trades certificate or diploma, $31.39 for those with a community college, CEGEP or equivalent credential, $28.77 for high school graduates and $26.97 for those without a high school diploma.

Gender gap and benefits coverage persist

Employment outcomes continue to differ by gender, although the gap narrows over time. In 2025, 72% of men aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher work in permanent, full-time positions, compared with 66% of women, with stronger gains among women helping reduce the gap through the study period.

Real wage growth remains modest from 2019 to 2025, with inflation-adjusted hourly pay rising 1.8% for men and 2.5% for women. Even so, the wage gap changes little, and women in 2025 earn an average of $0.92 for every dollar earned by men, roughly in line with the average seen since 1997.

Parenthood continues to weigh more heavily on women's job outcomes than men's. Female university graduates with a child aged six or younger at home are less likely to work in permanent, full-time positions, at 62%, than women without young children, at 67%, while no comparable difference is observed among men.

Other job quality measures show limited movement in recent years. In 2025, 25% of young women and 15% of young men with a bachelor's degree or higher are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, pension coverage reaches 60% for women and 56% for men, and overqualification stands at 14% for women and 15% for men.

In our earlier article on the narrowing unemployment gap for young New Yorkers with and without college degrees, we highlighted data showing that recent graduates’ jobless rates have risen enough at times to match—or even slightly exceed—those of their non-degree peers. We also noted that a softer hiring environment and AI-driven changes in skill demand are reshaping entry-level opportunities, even as the longer-term wage premium for a degree has not disappeared.

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