The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that managers have emerged as the fastest-growing occupation in the country. The Globe's Jason Kirby and Matt Lundy write that once the target of cost-cutting companies, managerial ranks are now overflowing. Since early 2021, more than 500,000 new management jobs have been created, a 33-per-cent increase at a time when non-management jobs grew by only 8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada's labour force data. At least, that is the picture the numbers paint. The reality may be far more complex. Economists and human-resources experts point to a number of competing explanations for what is going on -- from employers doubling up management roles as boomers retire to companies dispensing manager titles as a retention play to a dilution of the title itself as employers try to appease Gen Z workers starved for recognition. The Globe uses BCE as an example of the trend. At the company's annual meeting in May, chief executive officer Mirko Bibic said the telco hired 7,500 new employees in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, of which 20 per cent were management roles. Many new hires are high-tech talent, such as software developers, cybersecurity and digital media types.