benedek via Getty Images An aerial view of Toronto's central business district.

MONTREAL ― If you want an idea where the job market is headed next, take a look at business investment. The money businesses put towards growing their operations is a key piece of the economic puzzle. After all, businesses can’t hire if they don’t invest. So it’s a bit alarming to hear that business investment, as a share of Canada’s economy, has dropped to its lowest levels since the mid-1990s, when the country was pulling out of a particularly prolonged recession, and businesses weren’t in the greatest shape for investing. Watch: The most in-demand jobs in Canada. Story continues below.

“That is simply not normal at this advanced stage of the business cycle,” said Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter. After a decade of solid economic growth following the financial crisis, Canadian business investment should be riding high ― as it is, right now, in the U.S. Business investment took a dive in Canada when oil prices fell in 2014, and not much has come around to replace that oil money, Porter wrote in a client note Wednesday that he concluded with the words, “Ottawa, we have a problem.” He published this chart showing non-residential business investment holding near record highs in the U.S., while falling precipitously in Canada.

BMO Economics This chart shows business investment as a share of Canada's economy, going back to the 1960s. Current levels in Canada are their lowest since the recession of the early 1990s, while in the U.S. they are near the high end of the range.

But while that would normally mean a worse job market ahead, Porter isn’t sure that will happen this time around. In fact, Canada’s stellar job growth over the past few years might actually be related to the fact that businesses haven’t been investing. “Some people have suggested that we’re ... seeing businesses, in this time of great uncertainty, hiring people instead of buying machines,” Porter said. If they keep doing that, Canadian hiring might hold up even despite the low levels of investment cash floating around, Porter suggested.