173,000 new hires needed for Canadian food security

New report warns Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector requires coordinated workforce and productivity action by 2034

OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 18, 2026 /CNW/ — Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector will need to recruit 173,000 new hires between 2026 and 2034, according to a new national labour market report released today by Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC). Nearly 100,000 of the projected hires by 2034 will be needed to replace workers leaving the labour force, while expansion accounts for 43 per cent of total hiring requirements.

Labour Market Insights: The Workforce Imperative — Canada’s Food & Beverage Manufacturing Outlook 2026–2034 finds that the sector will require approximately 19,200 new hires every year to replace departing workers and support continued industry growth.

“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 be in greatest demand, with 60,800 new hires required by 2034. The industry will also need approximately 34,300 labourers and 19,800 sales professionals. Together, operators and labourers represent more than half of the sector’s projected hiring requirements.

The provincial outlook reveals different pressures across the country. Alberta leads the forecast for growth and will need 16,800 new hires by 2034, with expansion as the primary driver. PEI is also strongly positioned, combining the country’s highest youth participation in the sector with growth needs that slightly exceed replacement demand; it will need 2,400 new hires. Other provinces face sharper demographic or geographic challenges: Newfoundland and Labrador must recruit workers equal to 76 per cent of its current workforce, Nova Scotia needs hires equivalent to roughly two-thirds of its workforce, and Ontario faces the largest absolute requirement at nearly 65,000 new hires.

The workforce challenge comes as the sector is demonstrating significant economic strength:

• Food and beverage manufacturing sales reached approximately $173 billion in 2025, up 69 per cent from 2015.
• Food manufacturing’s trade surplus grew to $13 billion, nearly four times its 2015 level.
• The industry employed approximately 317,000 people in 2025.
• Food and beverage manufacturing employment has grown by an average of 2.2 per cent annually since 2015.

However, the report identifies productivity as a growing concern. 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. Meeting projected demand will require annual employment growth of 2.4 per cent at a time when national population growth is expected to remain below one per cent.

“If we want to Build Canada Strong, food and beverage manufacturing must be a key part of that strategy,” said Mike Timani, Chair, 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.”

The report recommends that Canada:

• Make the food economy and its workforce a national government priority.
• Incorporate a dedicated workforce strategy into Canada’s food security agenda.
• Expand industry-specific training and career-development programs.
• Build stronger skilled-trades and pre-apprenticeship pathways.
• Prepare for retirement-driven replacement demand through certification and clear career progression.
• Improve connections with newcomers, people with disabilities and other underrepresented talent pools.
• Develop national career-awareness initiatives alongside regionally tailored workforce solutions.
• Use detailed labour market intelligence to identify productivity opportunities and guide investment.

The report also emphasizes that technology alone will not eliminate the need for people. Even if the entire industry reached an Industry 4.0 standard, previous research suggests the sector would still need 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.”

The full report, Labour Market Insights: The Workforce Imperative — Canada’s Food & Beverage Manufacturing Outlook 2026–2034, is available at https://fpsc-ctac.com/reports/the-workforce-imperative/.

About Food Processing Skills Canada

Food Processing Skills Canada is the country’s workforce development organization for the food and beverage manufacturing sector. For more than 28 years, FPSC has worked with industry, government and education partners to build a skilled, future-ready workforce that strengthens Canada’s food safety and security, drives economic growth and positions the country as a global leader in the food economy.

For more information, visit fpsc-ctac.com.

SOURCE Food Processing Skills Canada