Every year, hundreds of regional employers take time out of a busy season to answer a few honest questions: who are you hiring, what’s working, and what’s keeping you up at night? The 2026 EmployerOne Survey results are in, and for businesses across Rural Oxford and the wider region, they offer something genuinely useful — a current, ground-level read on the local labour market, straight from the people living it. Conducted by the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board, with support from Employment Ontario and the Government of Canada, this year’s survey heard from 256 area businesses, more than a quarter of them based in Oxford County, ranging from sole proprietors to operations with hundreds of employees. The full results are worth a look if you run a business in this region — but here’s what stood out to us.
A region that’s still hiring
The headline number is a good one: 78% of respondents hired in 2025, adding nearly 2,900 new positions across the region. Most of that hiring was permanent, with full-time roles leading the way, followed by permanent part-time and seasonal work — the kind of jobs that help families and small businesses plan ahead. The businesses behind these numbers are a real cross-section of the local economy: Other Services and Healthcare and Social Assistance were the two most represented sectors, followed closely by Manufacturing, Arts and Recreation, Retail, and Agriculture. And while a few larger operations took part, most respondents are small by design — the majority employ fewer than 50 people, and over half operate from a single location. This is, in other words, a survey of the kind of businesses that make up Main Street, not head office.
Women and youth were the two groups most commonly hired in 2025, reported by 77% and 71% of employers respectively, while smaller but meaningful numbers of businesses also hired recent immigrants, older workers, and newcomers to Canada.
Where today’s talent is coming from
Here’s a number worth celebrating: nearly two-thirds of employers said all of their 2025 hires came from right here in the local employment region. Only a small fraction looked outside the area, and fewer still recruited internationally. Word of mouth and personal networks were the most-used way to find good people, though private job boards actually produced the best results this year — a useful nudge for any employer rethinking where to post their next opening.
What actually gets someone hired
Ask local employers what matters most in a new hire, and the answer isn’t a diploma. Willingness to learn and a strong work ethic tied as the top two hiring factors, each cited by 70% of businesses, ahead of formal education or years of experience. Soft skills were prioritized over technical skills by a three-to-one margin, with teamwork, self-motivation, and reliability topping the list. It’s a reminder that in a region built on relationships, character still counts for a lot.
The hard-to-fill puzzle
That said, hiring wasn’t always easy. More than half of employers reported at least one hard-to-fill position this past year, most often because applicants lacked relevant experience or didn’t meet a role’s qualifications. Early childhood educators, skilled trades positions, and employment support roles were among the toughest to staff. And when employers went looking for outside help with recruitment, more than half said they hadn’t accessed any external support at all — though those who did mostly found it useful, with 60% saying their needs were fully met.
Investing in people, even when it’s hard
The encouraging part: local employers aren’t just hoping the right candidate shows up. 78% offer some form of training support, most commonly mentorship and coaching or in-house programs, and 70% of employers pay at least three-quarters of a living wage, including 40% paying the full rate. Apprenticeship is part of this picture too: among businesses in skilled-trades sectors, nearly three-quarters currently have apprentices on staff, training future millwrights, machinists, and trades workers who’ll be sticking around for years to come. The businesses without apprenticeship programs most often pointed to a familiar challenge — finding suitable candidates in the first place.
Who’s leaving, and why
No conversation about hiring is complete without talking about who walks out the door. Six in ten employers experienced some kind of staff separation this year, and quits were by far the most common reason — both in terms of how many businesses experienced them and how many people moved on. Among employers who flagged retention as a concern, the most common explanation was simple: their people found other opportunities. Youth workers were the group most often cited as a retention challenge, which tracks with what many of our local businesses already know — a first job is often a stepping stone, not a destination.
Planning for what’s next
Looking ahead, nearly three-quarters of employers expect to hire again in 2026, mostly to fill existing vacancies or cover seasonal demand, with a smaller share hiring to support expansion. Most expect their overall workforce to hold steady or grow slightly rather than shift dramatically. On the planning side, just over half of respondents have a formal business continuity plan in place — encouraging, though it also means a meaningful number of local businesses are thinking about succession without yet having it written down. Finding and hiring qualified workers remain the two challenges employers expect to wrestle with most in the year ahead, even more so than retaining the staff they already have.
Tariffs and AI: two slow-moving stories
Neither tariffs nor artificial intelligence delivered the shake-up some might have expected. Tariffs mostly showed up as a cost issue — increased prices on imported goods — rather than layoffs or hiring slowdowns, with about half of affected employers reporting no real impact on their workforce at all. AI adoption is creeping in steadily rather than sweeping through: about half of participating employers are either using or exploring it, most often for internal administrative work and marketing and communications, while the other half haven’t started yet. Both are worth watching, but for now, neither is rewriting the rules for how Rural Oxford does business.
What this means for Rural Oxford
These numbers back up something we already see in our day-to-day work: this is a region where businesses grow by investing in people, not just positions. Local hiring, local relationships, and a willingness to train someone who shows up ready to learn – that’s the throughline running through almost every result in this year’s survey. Whether you’re hiring your first employee or your fiftieth, the EmployerOne results are a useful gut check on how your own hiring and retention practices stack up.
If you’re a local business owner looking for support — recruitment guidance, training resources, or just someone to talk through your next hire — Community Employment Services (cesoxford.ca) is a great place to start, and we’re always happy to make an introduction that points you in the right direction.n.
Explore more workforce resources and connect with the wider Oxford County business community at workinoxford.ca, or visit ruraloxford.ca to see what’s happening across Rural Oxford.