Poll suggests 40% of Canadians fear losing their jobs due to U.S. tariffs

OTTAWA — A new poll suggests that 40 per cent of Canadians are worried about losing their jobs as many businesses scale back hiring plans in response to the trade war with the United States.

The Leger poll, which sampled more than 1,500 Canadian adults from March 7 to March 10, suggests that more than half of workers in Ontario were concerned about job security, the highest in the country, while just under one in four in Atlantic Canada said they were worried.

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Thirty-nine per cent of people in British Columbia and in Manitoba/Saskatchewan reported they’re worried about losing their jobs, compared to 35 per cent of people in Alberta and 26 per cent of people in Quebec.

Because the poll was conducted online, it can’t be assigned a margin of error.

The poll shows male respondents were more concerned about unemployment than women, with 44 per cent of men worried compared with 36 per cent of women. Respondents between 18 and 54 were more worried than those over the age of 55, at 42 per cent compared with 34 per cent.

The trend line on Canadians’ job loss anxiety has gone up and down in Leger polls since the beginning of the year, beginning with a low of 36 per cent in the week of Jan. 26 and hitting a high of 42 per cent in the week of Feb. 25.

The latest Leger poll says that while 61 per cent of respondents described their household’s finances as “good,” 46 per cent said they’re living paycheque to paycheque.

Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Central Canada for Leger, said widespread fear of unemployment is bad for the economy because that fear leads people to delay purchases.

Enns said Ontario probably polled the highest level of concern because the recent provincial election involved a lot of dire warnings from provincial politicians about the likely impact of Trump’s tariffs on employment.

Enns said that what stood out for him in the data was the increase in the number of people saying they’re “very” concerned about their jobs.

A Leger poll conducted over the week of March 3 found 39 per cent of respondents were concerned about losing their jobs, with 11 per cent of those people saying they were “very” concerned.

In the most recent poll, 15 per cent of the respondents who said they were concerned about unemployment indicated they were “very” concerned about losing their jobs.

Enns said that if companies make significant layoffs because of the tariffs, that could show up in the polling data in the coming weeks.

New Bank of Canada data suggests that 40 per cent of businesses are scaling back their hiring and investment plans in response to heightened trade uncertainty.

Markets have been in a tailspin since U.S. President Donald Trump began to put in place his massive tariff agenda. On Wednesday, Trump’s administration hit all countries, including Canada, with 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the United States.

The Bank of Canada data, which is based on surveys of businesses and consumers conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 28, 2025, found that job security concerns are more common among people working in industries that rely on exports to the U.S.

Respondents to the Bank of Canada survey were asked how they think their job security would be affected if trade relations between Canada and the U.S. were to deteriorate.

Almost three in four workers from the mining, oil and gas industries told the Bank of Canada survey they were worried about their jobs, and three in five who work in manufacturing. Just under half of those in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, agriculture and forestry said they were concerned.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said she has heard from workers who are thinking of selling their homes and about “pockets of layoffs” happening across the country, including at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie.

“Although the numbers so far have been fairly small in the various different areas, employers have served unions notice that they are worried about what the future holds, and that layoffs may be in the offing,” she said. “Employers themselves are also uncertain.”

Bruske said it’s also troubling that some businesses, primarily in manufacturing, aren’t getting as many orders as usual from U.S. clients.

“People are very worried about what their job reality is going to be,” she said, adding that she expects to see more layoffs if tariffs continue.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press