Tech jobs will boom in Canada according to a report from the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC). Canada needs techs and the ICTC suggests that Canada’s education and economic policies needs immediate reform.
“Canada’s technology industry has a critically important role to play in ensuring that this country is able to reach its full potential as a global leader in the digital economy,” said Janet Kennedy, President of Microsoft Canada, industry sponsor of the ICTC strategy.
According to a Blog by Kabir Sewani posted March 10, 2016 on the ICTC website – With support from Microsoft Canada, ICTC developed the National Digital Talent Strategy in consultation with a wide range of industry, academic and policy leaders from across Canada. The following are among the strategy’s key recommendations for securing Canada’s future in a global, digital economy:
- Making computer science education mandatory from Kindergarten through Grade 12;
- Removing barriers to full participation in the ICT field by women, immigrants, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples and visible minorities;
- Providing incentives such as tax credits to reduce the financial burden on small and medium-sized businesses to upskill employees in ICT;
- Stimulating investment in research and development activities that bring new products and services to market;
- Helping those displaced from other industries transition into digital economy jobs; and
- Strengthening Canadians’ digital literacy and related skills.
Making computer science education mandatory from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
Removing barriers to full participation in the ICT field by women, immigrants, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples and visible minorities.
Stimulating investment in research and development activities that bring new products and services to market.
Information & Communications Technology Landscape
As the current ICT workforce ages, not many youth are opting for ICT careers, leaving a void that could potentially limit Alberta’s future competitiveness before long. Significantly fewer youth work in ICT professions than in other jobs. In contrast, ICT professions have a greater proportion of workers in the older age groups compared to the total provincial workforce. – source ICTC Alberta Forecast. .
FUTURE OUTLOOK
As reported by Digital Adoption Compass (ICTC partner) – Under three economic scenarios over a 5-year horizon, a combination of employment growth and replacement requirements produces estimates of cumulative hiring requirements. Under a baseline scenario, over 8,900 new ICT jobs are expected to be created in Alberta by 2019. It is projected that the availability of homegrown ICT talent will not be sufficient to meet these hiring requirements. Combined with replacement demand due to retirements and other exits, Alberta would have to fill 17,300 ICT positions over the next five years. By 2019, cumulative hiring requirements for ICT talent are expected to be over 10,600 in Calgary, over 4,000 in Edmonton, and over 2,500 in rest of Alberta.
Editors Note: All quotes, stats, images (except header) and reports were sourced from the ICTC website and are owned by ICTC.