Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector will need to recruit 173,000 new workers between 2026 and 2034, with nearly 100,000 hires required to replace people leaving the labour force, according to a new national labour market report.
The report, Labour Market Insights: The Workforce Imperative – Canada’s Food & Beverage Manufacturing Outlook 2026–2034, from Food Processing Skills Canada says the sector will need about 19,200 new hires annually to replace departing workers and support continued growth, with expansion accounting for 43 per cent of total hiring requirements.
Operators, labourers among largest needs
The findings come as the industry faces both continued growth and declining productivity, creating pressure on employers to attract and retain workers while increasing output. The report says annual employment growth of 2.4 per cent will be required to meet projected demand, while national population growth is expected to remain below one per cent.
“This report makes clear that Canada’s food workforce challenge is structural, not temporary,” said Jennefer Griffith, executive director of Food Processing Skills Canada. “The sector is growing, demand is strong and the opportunities are significant. But realizing that potential will require focused action to attract, train and retain employees while helping businesses improve productivity.”
Operators will account for the largest share of projected hiring requirements, with 60,800 new hires needed by 2034. The sector is also expected to require about 34,300 labourers and 19,800 sales professionals, with operators and labourers together representing more than half of projected hiring.
The provincial outlook varies significantly. Alberta is forecast to require 16,800 new hires by 2034, with expansion identified as the primary driver, while Prince Edward Island is expected to need 2,400 workers and combines the country’s highest youth participation in the sector with growth needs that slightly exceed replacement demand.
Newfoundland and Labrador will need to recruit workers equivalent to 76 per cent of its current workforce, while Nova Scotia’s projected hiring requirement is roughly two-thirds of its workforce. Ontario faces the largest absolute requirement, at nearly 65,000 new hires.
Industry growth accompanied by productivity concerns
The workforce requirements come as the food and beverage manufacturing sector has expanded substantially over the past decade. Sales reached about $173 billion in 2025, an increase of 69 per cent from 2015, while the food manufacturing trade surplus reached $13 billion, nearly four times its 2015 level.
The sector employed about 317,000 people in 2025, with food and beverage manufacturing employment growing at an average annual rate of 2.2 per cent since 2015. At the same time, the report identifies productivity as an increasing concern for the industry.
Food manufacturing productivity declined by an average of 0.17 per cent annually between 2015 and 2024, while unit labour costs increased by 36 per cent, according to the report. It says meeting future demand will therefore require the sector to address both its workforce requirements and its productivity performance.
“If we want to Build Canada Strong, food and beverage manufacturing must be a key part of that strategy,” said Mike Timani, chair of Food Processing Skills Canada. “Canada cannot achieve its food security, domestic production and export ambitions without the people and skills needed to support them. Workforce development must be treated as essential economic infrastructure. Food Processing Skills Canada, working alongside governments, employers, educators and community partners, has a key role to play in advancing the solutions needed to build a skilled, inclusive and productive workforce.”
Report calls for national workforce strategy
The report recommends making the food economy and its workforce a national government priority and incorporating a dedicated workforce strategy into Canada’s food security agenda. It also calls for expanded industry-specific training and career-development programs, stronger skilled-trades and pre-apprenticeship pathways, and measures to prepare for retirement-driven replacement demand.
Other recommendations include improving connections with newcomers, people with disabilities and other underrepresented talent pools, developing national career-awareness initiatives alongside regionally tailored workforce solutions, and using detailed labour market intelligence to identify productivity opportunities and guide investment.
The report says technology will not eliminate the industry’s need for workers. Even if the entire sector reached an Industry 4.0 standard, previous research indicates it would still require nearly 140,000 new workers over the next nine years.
“Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry offers hundreds of different career paths in production, skilled trades, food safety, science, logistics, technology, sales and management,” Griffith added. “This is both an urgent workforce challenge and an extraordinary opportunity to connect more Canadians with stable, meaningful careers in a sector that feeds the country and the world.”
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