The report shows that wage growth will average 3.5 percent in 2025 compared to the same period last year.
Wage growth in the Canadian technology sector continues to slow compared to last year amid persistent inflation.
“These results show that the technology sector is finding equilibrium after years of rapid growth and adaptation.”
According to Canadian technology organizations, average wage growth in 2025 was just 3.5 per cent year-over-year. Tap Network's annual survey on salaries and total compensation in the technology sector. Wage growth has slowed for the second year in a row. In 2024, Tap reported average wage growth in Canada's tech sector of 3.8 percent, which itself is a significant decline from the 2023 average wage growth of 7.5 percent.
Although this growth exceeds that of Canada headline inflation rate 1.9 percentit hasn't held up as well in important areas like food and housing, which rose 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent year-on-year respectively. However, the report found one source of optimism: annual turnover continued to decline from a peak of 13 percent three years ago to 8 percent this year.
“These results indicate that the technology sector is finding its footing after years of rapid growth and adaptation,” Tap Network CEO Stephanie Hollingshead said in a statement. “The organizations that will succeed are the ones that thoughtfully combine competitive pay with meaningful benefits and flexible working conditions.”
By 2026, Canadian technology organizations forecast average headcount growth of 13 per cent and salary budget increases of 3.6 per cent, according to the survey.
CONNECTED: Canada ahead of US in tech talent growth in 2024: CBRE report
The study, conducted in the spring of 2025 in collaboration with Mercer, draws on data from startups, scale-ups and large multinationals across Canada's technology subsectors, including software, artificial intelligence (AI), cleantech, hardware, visual effects, animation, video games and interactive digital media.
The report shows that the FinTech and hardware sectors lead the way with significantly higher corresponding average wage growth at 5.8 percent and 5.0 percent. Moreover, despite some perceptible return to the office ordersmore than 71 percent of companies have hybrid work arrangements. About 26 percent work entirely remotely, while only 2.6 percent work fully onsite.
The jobs data follows a report from recruiting platform Indeed, which found that Canadian tech hiring plunged from mid-2022. However, according to the study CBRE report released this week. CBRE found that Canada's tech industry accounts for three-quarters of the country's job growth and is growing at about twice the rate of the overall workforce.
Image provided Unsplash. Photo by towfiqur barbhuiya.
