Canadian Tech Talent Poised For Post-Pandemic Growth

Tech talent is one of the most resilient professions in any economic downturn, and this has been particularly so during the COVID-19 crisis by facilitating business productivity and supporting critical infrastructure.

And according to commercial real estate firm CBRE, tech talent is poised for post-pandemic growth.

CBRE’s 2020 Scoring Tech Talent Report [pdf] is out and not surprisingly the San Francisco Bay Area leads the way.

Cities are scored based on 13 criteria ranging from total tech sector jobs to growth, costs to do business, and the number of students graduating with tech degrees.

The top five for 2020 are: San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Toronto and New York City.

Four other Canadian cities joined Toronto in the CBRE’s Top 50 Tech Talent Scorecard Ranking Vancouver at #12, Ottawa at #14, Montreal at #16, and Calgary at #34.

Shopify fans will be interested to learn that Ottawa is among the markets registering the greatest rise in the rankings this year.

Calgary vaulted onto the rankings, a coup for the city which has traditionally been dominated by the oil and natural resources industry.

The Waterloo Region landed in the top spot in CBRE’s Next 25 Market rankings for “lesser known or underdeveloped U.S. and Canadian markets.” In this category, Quebec City came in at #6, Edmonton at #9, and Halifax at #12.

The total annual labor and real estate cost in the top tech talent markets ranged from US $30 million in Montreal to US $62 million in the San Francisco Bay Area for the typical 500-person tech company requiring 75,000 sq. ft. of office space.

The number of tech degree graduates was compared with tech talent job creation in each market to determine brain gains or brain drains. San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle and Charlotte, N.C. gained the most tech talent.

Check out CBRE’s 2020 Tech Talent Analyzer tool to learn more about the markets included in the report.