Today’s Canadian Technology Students will Benefit from Job Shortage
Students graduating high school this year or next will finish a 4-year degree just in time for a labour force that’s hungry for their skills.
The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) says Canada will face alarming skills and labour shortages in the next five years.
“The potential skills and labour shortage crisis has been identified as one of the most defining issues facing the ICT sector in Canada today, said Bernard Courtois, President and CEO of ITAC.
This shortage is explored in the ICTC’s new report, Outlook for Human Resources in the ICT Labour Market, 2011-2016. The report was created in partnership with the Information Technology Association of Canada(ITAC), and says the demand for skilled workers will far exceed the supply in most regions of Canada. So much so, that employers will be forced to hire from other sectors such as marketing or finance.
The report claims that in the next five years, Canadian employers will need to hire an estimated 106,000 ICT workers.
Hurdles that the employers and employees will face include:
- A discrepancy between the industry skill requirements and the available skill supply
- Information Systems Analysts and Consultants (The largest ICT occupation in Canada) will continue to demand a complex mix of skills
- A massive gender imbalance. Men make up approximately 75% of all ICT employees
- Trained newcomers to Canada will struggle to find work unless their English is very strong.