The world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm has released its latest report on tech talent.
Skilled tech talent workers total 6.5 million in North America, according to a tally from CBRE’s annual report, Scoring Tech Talent 2022. These tech workers hail from nearly two dozen different occupations, ranging from software developers to data managers and everything in between.
And while about half of positions are within the tech sector itself, the rest are distributed across a vast variety of sectors. In the modern world, banks and government need software engineers, too!
Tech talent growth is up more than 12% over five years, an order of magnitude versus the national average closer to 1%. Of this tech talent, roughly one million are in Canada.
Within our fine country, tech talent makes up almost 7% of our total workforce—significantly more than the 4% in US that tech talent accounts for. In Ottawa, tech talent represents more than 11% of the total workforce—a penetration rate matching that of the iconic San Francisco Bay Area, the report shows.
CBRE’s report ranked the top 50 North American markets based on 13 metrics to “measure each market’s depth, vitality and attractiveness to companies seeking tech talent and to tech workers seeking employment.” We note the Canadian entries with their continental ranking in brackets.
- Toronto (3rd)
- Vancouver (8th)
- Ottawa (13th)
- Montreal (15th)
- Calgary (28th)
- Edmonton (35th)
- Quebec City (39th)
Overall, Canadian cities advanced their aggregate position. Toronto moved up from Top 5 to Top 3, while the rapidly growing Vancouver jumped three spots to crack the Top 10. Over the last five years, the hubs of Toronto and Vancouver alone added a total of nearly 150,000 tech roles to Canada’s ecosystem.
In fact, Vancouver was ranked the fastest-growing tech hub in North America. The city is a job creation magnet, having added 40,000 more tech talent jobs than graduates over the last five years, according to the report.
Looking to join the tech talent world? Attend a seasonal Tech Talent Canada Job Fair or take a gander at our free Job Board.
