Canadian cities among Top 10 tech markets in North America

News highlights

• Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver are on the “Top 10 tech markets in North America” list.
• Toronto stood ranked three in the tech market in North America.
• Even being top job spots for the tech industry, Canadian cities are in need of even more skilled workers.
• There’s a great deal of effort Canada’s making to attract, retain, and develop skilled and talented tech workers.

The good news about Canada is that tech jobs are growing at a faster pace in Canadian cities compared to US cities in North America. The number of jobs generated for tech professionals in Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver has placed them among North America’s top 10 tech markets. It has become highly attractive for foreign tech talents to migrate to Canada and get well placed.

North America's Top 10 Tech Markets

2022 Ranking	Tech Talent Market
1	San Francisco Bay Area, USA
2	Seattle, USA
3	Toronto, Canada
4	Washington, D.C., USA
5	New York, USA
6	Austin, USA
7	Boston, USA
8	Vancouver, Western Canada
9	Dallas/Fort Worth, USA
10	Denver, USA

The tech jobs scenario

Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver have created more tech jobs than tech graduates in a substantial way in recent times. US cities like New York, Washington DC, and Boston have produced more graduates than employment. This has led to Toronto and Vancouver getting placed among the top 10 tech talent markets.

The progress these Canadian cities have made is evident from the numbers. In the period from 2016 to 2021, Toronto recorded the most growth in opportunities for tech talent with 89,000 jobs. Vancouver grew its tech talent by 44,460 job positions. In this period Vancouver had the highest growth percentage with 63%. Toronto had 44% and Quebec had a growth of 43% in tech employment.

What does it all mean?

When it comes to creating job opportunities for tech graduates, Canadian cities like Vancouver, Toronto, and Seattle have been high performers. A recent report says that Toronto, Seattle, as well as the Waterloo Region of Canada form the top five markets with highest tech job concentration. The tech employment they generate ranges between 9.6% and 10.3% of the total employment they have.

This region offers the best environment in which innovation becomes possible to a high degree. This is where foreign nationals with tech skills can find opportunities and migrate to Canada.

Also read: Bag jobs in Canada this year; June 2022 had over 1 million jobs vacant

Why is immigration needed to meet the tech skill demand?

The Canadian cities you read about just now are definitely high job generators in the tech field. Yet the fact is that these cities aren’t generating enough tech graduates who could fill the open job vacancies.

For instance, Toronto has, through the past 5 years, 88,900 job vacancies in the tech sector. But the city hasn’t produced just 29,312 tech graduates in this period of time. This points towards a big gap in the demand and supply of tech talent.

During the same period, Vancouver had 44,460 tech job vacancies but had only produced 14,041 tech graduates. In Quebec, for 10,700 jobs, only 2,313 tech graduates were produced in the same period.

This has created a huge opportunity for foreign nationals with tech skills. There is a particularly high demand for software engineers. Other areas where companies need people with digital skills are data analytics and cyber security.

Canada is addressing its largest challenge of attracting, retaining, and developing tech talent in these tech hotspots. The need to offer migrant tech workers facilities like hybrid work models is seriously considered. This is significant while 80% of Canadian companies need more tech workers.

Know your eligibility to immigrate to Canada through Y-Axis Canada Immigration Points Calculator.

The solutions in view for Canada

Through immigration programs like IMP (International Mobility Program) and TFWP (Temporary Foreign Worker Program), foreign nationals can be brought in to work for Canadian employers.

If skilled migrants arrive in Canada through a Stream like the GTS (Global Talent Stream), they could get Canadian work permits granted and visa processing is done within 2 weeks. This fast pathway through GTS comes under TFWP. Express Entry can also be a major pathway that can be utilized to bring tech-skilled foreign nationals to Canada in large numbers.

Also read: Canada immigration could fill over 50% of Canadian population in 2041

So, if you are a skilled tech graduate, this is the right time to try to migrate to Canada and be well-placed in your field.

If you are willing to migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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