Market Trends
Employment Trends for 2009-2010:
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 [ 2009-03-02 ] |
Photo: Ubisoft
Canada’s high technology sector is hot, and the experts are betting the fire won’t fizzle any time soon. As it stands, companies don’t have enough people to fill job openings, leading them to recruit from abroad or offshore work overseas. “We’re in a candidate-short market,” says Chris Fong, national practice leader for information technology with David Aplin Recruiting.
Lynda Pitchford, vice president of professional services at Manpower Inc., is optimistic that Canada’s success in high technology will continue. “Technology is an area that companies invest in to make themselves more competitive. I see no reason why they wouldn’t continue [to do that],” she says.
Job prospects abound
Job openings are up for all kinds of workers in this field. In 2004, the number of positions for programmers, technicians and analysts hovered at about 130,000. By the end of 2007, it had increased to 134,000 for programmers, 147,000 for technicians and 152,000 for analysts. The market for electrical, electronic, computer and software engineers has been more volatile. Jobs grew from 55,000 in 2000 to a historic high of 93,000 in summer 2007 before plunging back down to 81,000 in late 2007.According to a report by the Information and Communications Technology Council, the unemployment rate in information technology is below the national average. It increased from 2% in fall 2000 to 5.8% in summer 2002 after dot coms crashed. But in 2007 it was back down to 2.3%.
Service Canada reports that the unemployment rate has been lowest for software engineers, pegged at 0.9%. It’s slightly higher for computer and information systems managers at 1.1% and electrical and electronics engineers at 2.4%. Programmers have among the highest unemployment in the sector with a rate of 4.4%.
Our technological stars
Canada has made its mark in high technology. Led by Ubisoft, Canada excels in multimedia digital entertainment, including computer gaming and multi-player online role-playing games. And this is a field where Canada is cashing in. As McGill University computer science professor Gregory Dudek comments, “Gaming is hot.” “That’s big money enterprise.”Meanwhile, professionals around the world clutch an icon of Canada’s lead in wireless technology whenever they use Research in Motion’s BlackBerry device. “It’s a tremendous Canadian success story,” says Pitchford.
Canadian success doesn’t stop there. Immersion Medical is breaking new ground with simulators for training healthcare providers, while Acsys Biometrics is a frontrunner with technology that authenticates a person’s identity by measuring physical characteristics such as facial features and fingerprints. Canada is also a leader in photonics, a field whose applications include laser eye surgery and barcode scanners.
The Canadian advantage
Cheaper labour and location costs, tax credits, industry initiatives and an educated workforce, give Canada an edge over the United States. Darlene Hnatchuk, industry liaison manager at McGill University’s Engineering Career Centre, says companies are attracted to high technology clusters in Montreal, Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo. These cities produce graduates with the relevant background and skills, and in some cases offer technical support from research and development centres. “Likes want to be near likes,” she says. “If I want to find strong workers for my company, I am likely to move to where they are.”Pitchford notes that Canadian universities (such as the University of Waterloo, the University of Windsor, McGill, Queen’s, Carleton, Concordia, Université de Montréal and UQAM) churn out more than 40,000 graduates a year in engineering, math and pure and applied science. “Close to half our high tech workforce has a university degree,” she points out, noting that the quality of Canadian university education is an added – and important – plus.
Jobs here to stay
Given Canada’s high tech success, some people may be surprised to know that certain companies, such as CGI, outsource work overseas. Fong explains that this is sometimes to save money, but more often reflects the shortage of workers here. “There may not be the availability of people [in Canada] to do a project, but there are an abundance of people in India or the Philippines with the skills.”However, experts don’t expect this trend to increase unless the dearth of workers in Canada’s high technology sector continues. For one thing, it’s more difficult for companies based in Canada to supervise employees and projects that are located overseas. “If you hire a person in India, you have to manage someone that’s far away,” Dudek says, explaining why outsourcing jobs is more of a last resort.
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