'Within the past year, finance has experienced some of the highest job cuts of any industry'
Turnover in the finance sector has surged to record highs, while hiring in education continues its multi-year decline, according to a recent report.
In August 2025, the finance sector experienced a dramatic 73% spike in turnover compared to the previous month—a trend that BambooHR describes as “a clear signal financial organizations are navigating a period of accelerated movement: more roles turning over, more teams in transition, and more pressure on leaders to retain mission-critical talent while backfilling fast.”
The report further notes that turnover in finance has increased by 52% year-over-year, marking this as part of a sustained upward trend rather than a one-off anomaly: “Within the past year, finance has experienced some of the highest job cuts of any industry.”
BambooHR’s August 2025 Workforce Insights report draws on more than five million employee data points worldwide.
Global hiring, turnover
Across all industries and regions, BambooHR’s global data for August 2025 shows:
- Hiring: Up 2.8% month-over-month, but down 16% year-over-year.
- Turnover: Up 7% month-over-month, but down 11% year-over-year.
- Job openings: Up 3% month-over-month, and up 15% year-over-year.
Smaller companies (fewer than 25 employees) reported the highest rates of both hiring and turnover, while larger organizations had the lowest proportion of job openings. Notably, turnover decreased for small companies by 6% month-over-month but increased for mid-sized (10%) and large companies (14%).
Nearly 30% of hiring managers across Canada anticipate that staff turnover will increase before the year’s end, according to an earlier report.
Turnover by industry
All industries except tech and education saw an increase in job openings from July to August; tech decreased by 1.4% while education stayed the same, says BambooHR.
As is typical for August, the education sector had the highest proportion of new hires at 4%.
Finance had the highest proportion of turnover, with a month-over-month increase of 73%.
Tech had the lowest proportion of hiring, job openings, and turnover among all industries.
Financial systems analyst is one of the fastest-growing jobs in Canada, according to a separate report.
While the education sector maintained the highest proportion of new hires in August, the overall hiring rate has dropped significantly over the years. BambooHR’s data shows that the hiring proportion in education fell to 4.3% in August 2025, down from 5.3% in August 2024, 6.6% in 2023, and 8.3% in 2022.
“That’s a multi-year peak that keeps getting lower—roughly down by half since 2022—and it points to a persistent cooling in education hiring even at the height of the seasonal cycle,” says the report.
