Tech talent growth slowed last year in Canada, where jobs are increasing at less than half of the rate of the US, a new report has found.
Tech talent employment grew in the US by nearly 4%, or over 200,000 jobs, in 2023. In Canada, meanwhile, 18,000 new positions represented a growth rate of less than 2%.
The numbers for both countries are down markedly from 2022.
The report found Toronto remains Canada’s largest tech talent region, employing more than 300,000—enough to render it the fourth largest hub in North America.
Ottawa ranked 10th in North America, while Vancouver ranked 16th. Calgary ranked 17th, while Waterloo ranked 21st. Quebec City and Edmonton cracked the top 50.
Toronto and Calgary were also called out for being “standout markets” in terms of tech talent job creation, with Toronto adding 60,000 positions over the past five years and Calgary adding 21,000.
Artificial intelligence was identified in the report as the hottest growing skill across the continent (although software engineering remains the most employable). Leading Canada’s AI talent is Toronto, with 12,000 working in the field.
In second and third for Canada, Vancouver has 7,000 AI talent members, while Montreal has 6,000. Combined, the three hubs represent 60% of the country’s total AI-specialty talent.
Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area had the highest shares of AI-specialty talent working for tech companies, followed by Vancouver at 55%.
The report posits that significant indicators for a market’s potential growth of AI-specialty talent are the presence of universities with established AI programs, the volume of technology companies developing AI, and the availability of venture capital funding. Toronto, among the Canadian hubs, possesses the most indicators.
