A Labour Day look at the job market
Explore opportunities all across Canada
Despite the global economic downturn, the Canadian economy has been steadily growing and adding jobs since 2008. As the economy grows it also changes, creating new challenges for individuals in the workforce when it comes to keeping pace with the needs of the economy as a whole. For example, manufacturing in Canada, despite being an important part of the overall economy, has been shrinking since at least the 1990s, according to the federal government. However, these losses are more than offset by growth in other sectors, requiring individual Canadians to adapt to new demands. What are the jobs of the future? As the Canadian economy expands it also becomes more diverse, creating different kinds of jobs as they’re needed in different parts of the country. In British Columbia, for example, the days of logging and fur trapping are long gone. Between 1997 and 2014 the job category that had the largest growth was software publishing, followed by waste management and computer systems design. Similarly, the Prairie provinces have seen a huge boom in jobs relating to energy development and transportation. Because of the rapid population growth in Alberta and Saskatchewan, however, all sorts of jobs that don’t directly deal with energy production but are more infrastructural have also been in high demand. Both in terms of population and concentration of financial services, Ontario and Quebec have long been the twin centres of Canada. It’s no surprise that jobs in financial services and technological development have been increasing in both provinces. What’s more, jobs in all sorts of healthcare services and products have been rising rapidly in these two provinces in recent years. Although Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the other Atlantic provinces have long been known for fishing (which is still a major part of their economy), like Ontario and Quebec, they’ve seen impressive increases in the numbers of specialized jobs they’ve added in their economies. Jobs focusing on the science as well as business and technical support sectors show no sign of decreasing in the near future. How can I be prepared for the job market? What an individual looking for work in the Canadian economy should know is that a higher premium is being placed on training and education than ever before, and it’s not just for those who have recently graduated from high school. With the increase in economic diversity and the growing need for specialized skills, trade schools and polytechnics have become an increasingly important component in Canadian higher education. More Canadians than ever before are seeking post-secondary education. Trade schools and polytechnics typically provide hands-on technical instruction and partnerships with local industries to teach the skills that employees need in that local economic region of Canada. Whether you need to retrain to become a physical therapist in Toronto, an expert in mineral extraction in Calgary or a software engineer in Vancouver, trade schools are becoming a more and more attractive option for Canadians from coast to coast.