Analysis in Brief
Analysis of businesses outsourcing work in Canada, first quarter of 2025

With the emergence of new work technologies and changing labour demands, there has been a rise in the population of Canada’s workforce that participates in gig work.^Note  In 2023, an average of 2.7 million people were self-employed, and over one in four (26.6%) self-employed Canadians were gig workers in their main job.^Note 

Outsourcing work to individuals such as gig workers or other businesses can provide businesses and organizations with the ability to adapt their workforce to their changing needs, or to undertake specific tasks or projects without the constraints of hiring part- or full-time staff and managing a more traditional employer-employee relationship.^Note 

In the first quarter of 2025, Statistics Canada conducted the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions to gain understanding on the current environment businesses in Canada are operating in and their expectations moving forward. This article provides insights on business activities related to outsourcing work. Based on the results of the survey, the types of tasks, projects or short contracts varied based on industry and size of business.

Proportion of businesses outsourcing work

Over half (52.2%) of businesses reported that they have outsourced tasks, projects or short contracts in the last 12 months. Just under one-fifth (19.0%) of businesses that have outsourced work use third-party digital platforms, applications or websites to do so.

Businesses in Yukon (58.8%) were most likely to outsource tasks, projects or short contracts, followed by British Columbia (54.9%) and Alberta (53.7%). Newfoundland and Labrador (42.0%); Prince Edward Island (45.9%) and Saskatchewan (48.1%) were least likely provinces to outsource any work.

Accounting, law, and professional services are most likely to be outsourced by Canadian businesses

Businesses may opt to contract out a variety of tasks and services to either other businesses or to individuals outside of their workforce according to their operational needs. A business can contract out tasks, projects or short-term contracts in order to have access to specialized expertise such as an electrician or a lawyer; have access to additional workers on an as needed basis such as gig workers; or for a specific one-time need such as a graphic designer.

When asked what kind of services they had outsourced, accounting, law or other professional services (36.5%) were most likely to be outsourced over the last 12 months. Businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector were most likely to outsource this activity (49.3%), followed by businesses in manufacturing (41.0%); agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (40.6%); and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (40.0%). Businesses in professional, scientific and technical services were the least likely (28.6%) to outsource these services.

General labour, repairs or cleaning services were outsourced by one-fifth (20.0%) of all businesses, led by over one-quarter of businesses in wholesale trade (30.8%); manufacturing (28.0%); arts, entertainment and recreation (26.7%); and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (25.2%).

Tasks, projects or short contracts related to website or software development and computer programming were outsourced by 17.0% of all businesses, led by around one-third (34.5%) of businesses in arts, entertainment and recreation and 30.8% businesses in information and cultural industries.

Businesses were least likely to outsource tasks, projects or short contracts related to event planning (2.0%) and online support or conference hosting (2.1%).

Data table for Chart 1

Data table for Chart 1 Table summary
The information is grouped by Activity outsourced (appearing as row headers), Businesses outsourcing this activity, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Activity outsourced	Businesses outsourcing this activity
	percent
Source: Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, first quarter of 2025 (Table 33-10-0932-01)
Accounting, law or other professional services	36.5
General labour, repairs, cleaning service	20.0
Website or software development, computer programming	17.0
Information technology (IT) service support	14.4
Sales and marketing support	10.1

Smaller businesses were the least likely to outsource work

Smaller businesses with 1 to 4 employees were the least likely to outsource any work, with less than half (45.5%) of these businesses outsourcing any tasks, projects or short contracts, compared to 58.4% of businesses with 5 to 19 employees; over three-fifths (64.8%) of businesses with 20 to 99 employees and nearly two-thirds of businesses (66.8%) with 100 or more employees.

Outsourcing tasks related to accounting, law or other professional services was most common in businesses with 5 to 19 employees (42.2%); 20 to 99 employees (39.4%) and 1 to 4 employees (32.8%). These were the second most common types of tasks to be outsourced by larger businesses with 100 or more employees (33.0%).

General labour, repairs and cleaning services were most likely to be outsourced by businesses with a larger workforce compared to smaller businesses. Businesses with 20 to 99 employees (36.4%) were most likely to outsource this task, followed by businesses with 100 or more employees (34.3%). One-quarter (25.1%) of businesses with 5 to 19 employees outsourced this kind of work, while businesses with 1 to 4 employees did so the least (13.1%).

Methodology

From January 2, 2025, to February 6, 2025, representatives from businesses across Canada were invited to take part in an online questionnaire on business conditions and business expectations moving forward. The Canadian Survey on Business Conditions uses a stratified random sample of business establishments with employees classified by geography, industry sector, and size.  An estimation of proportions is done using calibrated weights to calculate the population totals in the domains of interest. The total sample size for this iteration of the survey is 21,224, and results are based on responses from a total of 9,785 businesses or organizations.

References

Statistics Canada. (2025). Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, first quarter of 2025.