Ontario’s new pay transparency rules are set to change how employers approach compensation, prompting companies to audit their internal pay, compete more openly for talent, and expedite hiring by making salary expectations clear upfront.

The changes are an update to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000, which sets out the minimum employment standards in the province.

Beginning January 1, 2026, employers with 25 or more employees will be required to include either the expected compensation or a salary range in publicly advertised job postings. They must also disclose whether artificial intelligence is used in screening applications, state whether a role is an existing vacancy, and avoid any requirements related to “Canadian experience.” In addition, employers will be required to inform applicants whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the applicant’s final interview.

Early evidence from British Columbia, which introduced similar rules in November 2023, suggests the overhaul hasn’t shifted overall wage trends. Brandon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed.com, said wage growth in B.C. continues to move in line with the rest of Canada. Statistics Canada data show that from January to October 2023, wages for workers aged 25–54 were 3.3 per cent higher in B.C. than in the rest of the country, and by 2025, the gap was 3.8 per cent — a change he said falls within normal year-to-year fluctuations.

At the same time, Bernard says Indeed’s internal data show that transparency has risen in Canadian job postings. In Canada overall, about 43 per cent of job ads now include salary information, up from 18 per cent in early 2020. The increase in B.C. has been more dramatic. In mid-2023, 42 per cent of B.C. job postings on Indeed included pay information; by October 2025, that share had climbed to 75 per cent following the province’s adoption of pay transparency rules.

However, there could be more subtle effects on wage growth, particularly in the types of jobs most impacted by the policy change, he added, such as white-collar and high-skill sectors with annualized salaries.

This is a trend right now more than I’ve ever seen in my career at Robert Half.Sandra Lavoy, metro market manager, Robert Half

Sandra Lavoy, metro market manager at Robert Half, a staffing and recruitment firm, says companies are already scrambling to catch up as transparency forces them to reconcile legacy pay with today’s market. Employers will need to ensure that their internal candidates are paid as well as the new hires coming in, she says, because salaries have increased over the last five years, particularly in tech and finance fields.

Lavoy says the firm has been placing an increasing number of professionals in roles to do compensation analysis. “This is a trend right now more than I’ve ever seen in my career at Robert Half,” she says. If employers do not ensure pay equity internally, it could impact employee morale, culture, and retention efforts, she adds.

Lavoy also expects competition for talent to intensify once salary ranges become public. Even in today’s more volatile market, highly skilled candidates already have multiple options, she says, and transparency will make it even clearer when companies are paying below market.

“If [employers are] not paying enough, they’re going to see — they won’t be getting candidates,” Lavoy says.

Lavoy expects that pay transparency will also shorten the hiring process because applicants will be more suitable for the job’s pay scale, and can eliminate guesswork around salary throughout the process.

Bernard also noted that greater pay visibility could influence job mobility, which has declined since before the pandemic. In the third quarter of 2019, seven per 1,000 workers changed jobs in a given month, according to Statistics Canada. By the third quarter of 2025, that rate had fallen to four per 1,000.

“Those job transitions are an important way that people get ahead in the market,” he said, “and one of the ways that wage growth is generated. That’s been kind of lagging over the past years.”

He says transparency may help nudge mobility upward by allowing workers to compare opportunities more efficiently, and to identify when switching jobs would be worthwhile.

“It’s possible that over time the competitive effects of greater information in the market help job seekers steer toward better-paying opportunities,” he said.