Key Points:

  • Despite steady growth, Generative AI was mentioned in only 0.28% of Canadian job postings on Indeed in late January 2025. This share was similar to that of the UK and slightly higher than that of the US and Australia. 
  • GenAI mentions are quite rare in many white-collar jobs, including accounting, administrative assistance, and legal services, despite the substantial overlap between the technology’s capabilities and the types of skills involved in these occupations.
  • The majority (58%) of GenAI mentions in Canadian job postings in January were in fields related to tech, math, and science, with 6.2% of mathematics and 3.4% of software development postings noting the technology. 
  • GenAI tools haven’t yet disrupted businesses’ workflow to the point where many employers are explicitly seeking out job seekers with related skills and experience, but there’s substantial room for growth. 

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools may be a central focus of recent global stock markets, but their tangible labour market impacts have so far been limited. Many Canadian workers report using GenAI tools like ChatGPT in their day-to-day activities, but in late January 2025, just 0.28% of Canadian job postings on Indeed included any of a basket of GenAI-related terms, despite steady growth since early 2023. 

Line-chart titled “GenAI mentions have grown steadily but are still rare” shows the share of Canadian job postings mentioning generative AI between January 2023 and January 2025. The share has risen steadily, but was still just 0.28% of postings at the end of January 2025. 
Line-chart titled “GenAI mentions have grown steadily but are still rare” shows the share of Canadian job postings mentioning generative AI between January 2023 and January 2025. The share has risen steadily, but was still just 0.28% of postings at the end of January 2025. 

This low share of postings isn’t unique to Canada. With a few exceptions, such as Singapore and Ireland, the proportion of job descriptions including GenAI-related terms in January 2025 was below 0.3% in many countries tracked by Hiring Lab, including the U.K., the US, and Australia. While some positions that don’t mention GenAI will likely still incorporate the technology in day-to-day tasks, it’s rare for related tools and skills to be central enough in the workflow of many positions for employers to mention it in their job postings overtly. 

Bar-chart titled “GenAI is rarely mentioned across countries” shows the share of job postings in January 2025 mentioning generative AI, across several countries, including Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, France, and Germany. Canada ranked slightly higher than the other countries listed. 
Bar-chart titled “GenAI is rarely mentioned across countries” shows the share of job postings in January 2025 mentioning generative AI, across several countries, including Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, France, and Germany. Canada ranked slightly higher than the other countries listed. 

Few mentions in white-collar postings keeping the GenAI share low

Mentions of GenAI in job postings are highly concentrated in a small corner of the labour market: jobs involved in science, technology, and mathematics. These occupations comprised just 6% of Canadian job postings in January, but accounted for more than half (58%) of all mentions of GenAI in job descriptions. Meanwhile, GenAI-related terms are rarely included in job postings for many white-collar occupations, despite the vast potential to use the technology in these roles. 

Bar-chart titled “Most mentions of GenAI are in Tech, Math, and Science” shows the share of January 2025 Canadian job postings mentioning generative AI, as well as total Canadian job postings that are in tech, math, and science occupations compared to other occupations. While tech, math, and science jobs account for just 6% of total postings, they made up 58% of GenAI postings.
Bar-chart titled “Most mentions of GenAI are in Tech, Math, and Science” shows the share of January 2025 Canadian job postings mentioning generative AI, as well as total Canadian job postings that are in tech, math, and science occupations compared to other occupations. While tech, math, and science jobs account for just 6% of total postings, they made up 58% of GenAI postings.

In recent research, Hiring Lab evaluated the ability of GPT-4o, a popular GenAI model developed by OpenAI, to perform each of the 2,800 skills in Indeed’s skill taxonomy library across three dimensions: its ability to provide theoretical knowledge about the skill; its ability to problem-solve using the skill; and the necessity of physical presence in performing the skill. These evaluations informed a final assessment of the likelihood current Gen-AI tools will come to replace humans in performing these various skills. 

No skills were determined to be “very likely” to be replaced in the near term, while more than two-thirds (69%) of skills were deemed “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to be imminently replaced by GenAI. But for some occupations with limited physical requirements and where theoretical knowledge is paramount, most of the skills listed in recent US job postings were rated as “possible” or “likely” replaceable by GenAI. However, mentions of GenAI job postings in these highly exposed occupations have been quite mixed. 

The capabilities of GenAI overlap closely with many of the skills involved in many of the science, technology, and math jobs that also mention the technology at elevated rates. In January, more than 6% of job postings in the mathematics field (which includes data scientists) mentioned at least one GenAI-related keyword, by far the highest among sectors tracked. Math job postings also happen to have the highest proportion of skills deemed to be possibly or likely replaceable at the moment by GenAI. GenAI mentions were also relatively prevalent in software development (3.4%, which includes machine learning engineers), scientific research and development (2.0%), and information design and documentation (1.1%), all of which also ranked relatively high in terms of possible skill replacement. 

Scatterplot titled “Most white-collar postings rarely mention GenAI” shows different occupations, with their x-axis position reflecting the share of skills in their job postings either possibly or likely replaceable by GenAI, and the y-axis being the share of their January 2025 job postings mentioning GenAI. Many white-collar jobs such as accounting and administrative assistance rarely mention GenAI despite high replacement risk of the skills in their job postings. 
Scatterplot titled “Most white-collar postings rarely mention GenAI” shows different occupations, with their x-axis position reflecting the share of skills in their job postings either possibly or likely replaceable by GenAI, and the y-axis being the share of their January 2025 job postings mentioning GenAI. Many white-collar jobs such as accounting and administrative assistance rarely mention GenAI despite high replacement risk of the skills in their job postings. 

At the same time, the vast majority of job ads are for occupations where mentions of GenAI in late 2024 were quite rare. This was the case in fields where the technology isn’t yet relevant to most of the skills in demand — including health care, driving, and construction — but also across a range of white-collar sectors where the overlap is quite substantial. For instance, postings in accounting (the field with the second-highest skill replacement potential), administrative assistance, human resources, and legal services all mentioned GenAI less than the economy-wide average. Banking and finance ranked slightly higher, with just 0.32% of postings mentioning GenAI. 

Gradual adoption so far, but room for growth

Despite GenAI’s vast potential application, textual analysis of job descriptions suggest it’s had a limited disruptive impact on the workflow of most white-collar occupations outside of those in science, technology, and math. One reason these fields are the exception is that some of these jobs — like a machine learning engineer — are involved in the development of these tools themselves. However, the elevated prevalence could also reflect greater comfort among employers in these sectors in adopting and using the new technology more broadly. 

For other sectors, like finance, accounting, and sales, the gradual incorporation of GenAI into businesses’ workflow across the economy will likely mean that skill requirements related to the technology won’t suddenly shift in the near term. Nonetheless, given the substantial overlap between the capabilities of tools like ChatGPT and the types of skills and tasks many workers perform, there’s significant room for further growth as employers formalize their application of the technology. For job seekers, finding ways to familiarize themselves with GenAI tools today will likely help them get ahead of these trends going forward.

Methodology

The analysis involved extracting job postings directly related to Generative AI, using specific keywords found in job descriptions indicating its presence, such as “Generative AI,” “Large Language Models,” and “Chat GPT.” For more information on how the capabilities of GenAI overlap with occupational skill requirements, see our recent research.