AI skills and specialized talent push Canadian salary budgets higher in 2027
Roles expected to outpace the national average
Several roles are projected to see salary growth well above the 1.4% national average for new hires in 2027. In technology, business intelligence developers are expected to see increases of 5.3%, while chief information security officers could see gains of 5.2%. Marketing automation specialists lead all tracked roles at 5.9%.
In finance and accounting -a field with direct relevance to advisory firms’ back-office operations -controllers are projected to see 4.1% growth, with senior accountants at 3.6%.
Six in 10 organizations are increasing compensation budgets overall to remain competitive, despite ongoing cost pressures across the Canadian economy.
Transparency becoming standard practice
One of the guide’s more significant findings for hiring professionals concerns pay transparency. Ninety-three per cent of employers either use or plan to use external market data to benchmark compensation, and 96% already include -or plan to include -salary ranges in job postings.
For those firms that have embraced transparency, the results are tangible. Forty-nine per cent report attracting a higher-quality candidate pool, 46% say negotiations have become more efficient, and 33% cite a reduction in time-to-hire.
