Ask employers in India whether they plan to add staff in the final quarter of 2026, and the balance of answers comes out 54 points positive. Ask the same question in France and it comes out 13 points. Between those two readings sits a 41-point gap, and Canada, at 19, is nearer the lower end than the top.
The figures come from ManpowerGroup's Employment Outlook Survey for the fourth quarter, which polled 39,878 employers across 42 countries. The headline is encouraging: the global net employment outlook rose to 29 per cent, up two points from the third quarter and six points from a year earlier. The country-by-country detail is where the useful information lives, particularly for companies that recruit across borders or compete with employers in other markets for the same specialists.
How to read the number
The net employment outlook, or NEO, is the share of employers planning to hire minus the share planning to cut, adjusted for seasonal patterns. Globally, 43 per cent of employers plan to increase staffing, 14 per cent expect reductions and 41 per cent expect no change. That leaves 29 points on the positive side.
It is a statement of intent rather than a count of jobs. Employers' plans shift with conditions, and fieldwork for this edition took place in July, so some of what employers told the survey may already have moved. Used with that in mind, it remains one of the broadest comparisons available of how confident employers are about adding people.
The map: India and the Americas ahead, Europe behind
The regional split is wide:
36 per cent
Up two points on the quarter and 11 on the year
34 per cent
Up six on the quarter and three on the year
22 per cent
Up five on the quarter and five on the year
Among individual countries, India leads all 42 at 54 per cent, followed by Brazil (53), Panama (49), the UAE and Mexico (both 41) and Sweden (39). The United States is at 36, Vietnam at 36, China and Israel at 34. At the other end of the countries named in ManpowerGroup's published coverage, the UK reads 23, Germany 15 and France 13.
Several things stand out. The strongest readings come mostly from large, young or fast-growing economies, while some of Europe's biggest economies are at the bottom of the named group. Europe is improving, up five points on the quarter and the year, but from a low base. And the Americas are the one region where the year-over-year gain is large, at 11 points.
Canada: improving, still below the global line
Canada's NEO is 19 per cent, up six points on the third quarter and down three points on a year earlier. Thirty-seven per cent of Canadian employers plan to add staff, 17 per cent plan cuts, 44 per cent expect no change and 2 per cent are unsure. The survey included more than 1,000 Canadian employers. All six Canadian regions posted positive readings, each improving on the previous quarter.
That puts Canada ten points below the global average of 29 and 17 points below the United States at 36. The quarter-over-quarter gain is real, and so is the year-over-year softness. Both can be true: a market recovering from a weak spring, still not back to where it stood twelve months ago.
Within Canada the sector picture is uneven:
Utilities and natural resources
Utilities and natural resources posted the strongest outlook at 31 per cent, with the largest annual gain, 13 points.
Public sector, health and social services
Public sector, health and social services was weakest at 10 per cent.
Hiring speed is also split. Since 2025, 28 per cent of Canadian employers report faster hiring, 43 per cent no change and 29 per cent slower, an almost even division between employers whose processes have accelerated and those whose have not.
Sectors worldwide: construction and finance lead
Globally, the strongest sector readings are in construction and real estate (36 per cent, the biggest annual gain at 13 points) and finance and insurance (36 per cent), followed by information at 35 per cent. A rebound in building and property hiring after several cautious years, alongside steady demand for financial services talent, suggests the global recovery is not confined to technology.
Entry-level: a global tilt toward junior hiring, with Canadian caution
One of the survey's more interesting findings concerns junior roles. Worldwide, 45 per cent of employers plan to increase entry-level hiring and 20 per cent plan to pull back. In Canada, 40 per cent are considering junior candidates more, and 20 per cent are pulling back. Employers who are pulling back cite a general slowdown, AI automation reducing early-career tasks, and cost pressure that favours experienced hires. Utilities and natural resources led, with 53 per cent expecting to hire more newer workers.
ManpowerGroup's chief executive, Jonas Prising, observed that "many are reconsidering the tasks within jobs rather than displacing full positions," and that employers "continue to place high value on human skills." The numbers on junior hiring fit that reading: employers are redefining early-career work, and most are still planning to bring people in at the bottom of the ladder.
What the gap means for Canadian employers
A 41-point spread between countries has practical effects, not only statistical ones.
Competition for scarce skills is global.
Where employers elsewhere are hiring at 50-plus readings, specialists with in-demand skills, particularly in technology and finance, have options. A Canadian employer posting a remote-friendly role is competing with them as well as with the company down the street.
Slower domestic hiring is not a signal to stand still.
A Canadian reading of 19 means most employers are neither expanding aggressively nor cutting. The 44 per cent holding steady are still replacing departures, backfilling retirements and responding to project demand. They are doing it in a market where almost three in ten report that hiring is taking longer.
Sector context matters more than the national average.
A company in utilities and natural resources is operating in a different hiring climate than one in health and social services. Averages hide the variation, and workforce plans built on them will be wrong for most sectors.
Global talent access is a practical answer to local gaps.
Where the Canadian market is thin for a skill and employers elsewhere are growing, organizations that can reach talent across borders, through offshore teams or distributed contracts, have more choices than those that rely on one local pool. SRA Group's work with Canadian clients on offshore and flexible staffing is a response to exactly this pattern.
The bigger picture
The headline number, 29 per cent and rising, says the global hiring climate is improving. The spread beneath it says that improvement is not shared evenly, and that where a company hires matters nearly as much as what it hires for. Canada is moving in the right direction without yet matching the pace of the stronger markets.
For hiring leaders, the sensible reading is neither alarm nor complacency. It is a reminder that talent markets operate at different speeds in different places, and that a planning process which looks only at the national figure leaves useful information on the table.
Sources: ManpowerGroup, Employment Outlook Survey Q4 2026 (39,878 employers, 42 countries), via Staffing Industry Analysts, "Employers brace for shifting talent demands as Q4 hiring outlook rises"; Canadian HR Reporter, "Entry-level, overall hiring outlook show improvement in Canada: report"; ManpowerGroup India, Employment Outlook Survey Q4 2026 findings.