Canada will need 216,000 tech positions filled in these 5 key sectors by 2021

As the Canadian business landscape rapidly digitizes, a shortage of skilled labourers is hindering its growth potential.

A new report published on Apr. 12 by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) indicates that Canada will need to fill approximately 216,000 technology-related positions by 2021, up from 2015 predictions of 182,000 by 2019.

ICTC’s Labour Market Outlook 2017-2021 points out that this demand stems from a steadily growing Canadian digital economy, which experienced a 2.38 per cent growth between 2011 and 2016, compared to the 1.17 per cent growth for the rest of the economy.

“The overall digital labour force now amounts to around 1,389,000 professionals, and is reflective of the health of this economy and the expanding range of occupations in this space,” ICTC writes.

The report finds that 53 per cent of tech professionals in the digital economy work in non-tech industries, “which indicates an increased prevalence of technology across all sectors of the Canadian economy.” It predicts that by 2021, the proportion of tech workers in non-tech industries will rise to 84 per cent. Read more….

Canada will need 216,000 tech positions filled in these 5 key sectors by 2021