A recent study that assessed Canadian cities for tech talent has found that Toronto retained its top position this year, while many other cities also emerged competitive. In the new 2018 Scoring Canadian Tech Talent report, Ottawa and Waterloo found place among the top five. At the same time, the cities Hamilton, Quebec City and Halifax are among the top ten.
The report, published by CBRE Canada, assessed 20 Canadian cities based on 13 metrics arranged under three key indicators– tech talent employment, educational attainment and the high-tech industry. The report observed that technology had become a force for city building and the future of many Canadian cities was linked to the prospect of becoming a tech hub.
Top five Canadian cities for tech talent
- Toronto
- Ottawa
- Montreal
- Vancouver
- Waterloo
The study considered investments made by major tech firms such as Uber, NVIDIA, Etsy, Samsung and LG in Toronto, as a result of which, the city was placed first. The major office deals inked this year by Shopify, Microsoft, Touch Bistro, OpenText and Google were also taken into consideration. Second came Ottawa, followed by Montreal, Vancouver and Waterloo forming top five of the best Canadian cities with tech talents. Montreal, the second largest Canadian city after Toronto, reached the third position replacing Vancouver.
Top Canadian cities for tech jobs
Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Region of Waterloo and Ontario were responsible for 63.1 per cent of the total high-tech job growth of Canada during the time period 2012-2017. A total of 82,100 new tech jobs were created in Toronto during this period. The total number of tech jobs created in Canada during this period was 178,800. Among these, 57,600 jobs were created in 2017 alone. Hamilton emerged top among mid-sized Canadian cities, posting a growth rate of 64.8 per cent. Among the small market cities, Oshawa is in the first position with a job growth rate of 71.4 per cent. Quebec City and Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, also found a place among top ten cities in terms of tech jobs.
Top Canadian cities for tech labor concentration
Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa constitute 60.9 per cent of the total tech labor force of Canada. Ottawa has the highest number of tech workers, both in Canada and in North America, with 11.2 per cent tech labor concentration. Toronto ranked first in the concentration high-tech firms, followed by Ottawa and Montreal in second and third positions, respectively.
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