The technology industry today accounts for 6% percent of Canada’s direct economic value, or about $130 billion.
Employment in the industry is expected to rise through 2025, according to the latest research from CompTIA, a provider of vendor-neutral training and certification products in the information technology space.
Last year, Canada’s technology workforce expanded by roughly 27,000 people to reach an estimated 1.45M.
A small handful of major tech talent hubs in Canada employ most of the workforce.
For example, Ontario houses nearly 700,000 tech workers, of which over 400,000 are concentrated within the Toronto metro area. Quebec meanwhile employs roughly 300,000, of which over 200,000 are situated around Montreal. And in B.C., the tech workforce is 200,000 strong, with three-quarters located in the Vancouver area.
After that, numbers start to drop off. Alberta houses just 121,000 tech workers, mostly in Calgary (69,000) and Edmonton (40,000). The Prairies and Atlantic provinces have much smaller workforces even than that, although the Atlantic region is emerging as a potential clean-tech hotspot.
This year, “State of the Tech Workforce Canada 2025” forecasts national growth at 1.4%, which would result in 1.46M workers, or nearly 7% of the country’s total workforce.
Since 2019, net tech employment increased by an estimated 290,000 new jobs.
And while growth may be down year-over-year, the next decade looks good for tech, with employment in the sector expected to grow nearly twice as fast as overall employment across Canada’s economy.
“Job growth is anticipated in several occupation categories,” says Gary Mofford of CompTIA, “from the bedrocks of tech support, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and software to rapidly emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics.”
Popular roles include data scientist, information systems specialist, and cybersecurity experts.
“Hiring intent reflects the critical importance of technology, tech workers, and digitally fluent employees for organizations of all sizes, in all industries and in every locale,” Mofford remarked.
The estimated median annual wage for a technology worker in Canada is $97,000, according to the report, which is 48% higher than the median national wage for all occupations.
Working in partnership with thousands of academic institutions, governments, training providers and workforce development organizations, CompTIA helps students build career-ready skills through best-in-class learning solutions, industry-recognized certifications and career resources.
