Canada's manufacturing sector is being pulled in two directions at once. Infrastructure investment, supply chain reshoring, and growth in automotive, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing are driving steady demand, while the workforce built to deliver it is aging out faster than it's being replaced. CME projects roughly 40,000 retirements annually through 2031, and the resulting labour and skills shortage is already costing the sector an estimated $13 billion a year in lost sales and cancelled investment.
This guide breaks down where the talent gaps are most severe, current compensation and time-to-fill benchmarks by role, and what a proactive workforce strategy needs to include to compete in 2026.
