Stock Market Value vs Job Market Vacancies

The market thinks that big, publicly traded companies are going to have a good year in 2026 but the actual employment prospects of Canadians are in rough shape. This divergence is an example of a two-speed economy taking shape and should be taken as both a warning to governments and an impetus to start putting policies in place to reverse the trend.

This chart shows that the TSX composite Index is soaring while job opportunities are shrinking leaving many to wonder what their future prospects are.

A rising TSX is clearly not a health check for the entire economy and we shouldn’t treat it as such.

Ottawa is about to invest public money into economic growth. That’s a good thing. But the test of success cannot only be whether or not large companies are scaling and private investor returns are rising. We can’t measure success off dividends and share buybacks alone. We need broader return for the public investment too and that comes through delivering the gains in wages, job growth that delivers quality of life and quality public service.

Read more of analysis by Kaylie here.