From 2015 to 2019, B.C. boasted the second highest demand for engineers among Canada’s four biggest provinces, behind only Ontario. According to an Engineers Canada report, it accounted for 20% of the new engineers hired among the four provinces
But after years of B.C. punching above its weight, its demand for engineers has dropped. The province is now expected to create the fewest number of engineering job openings from 2020 to 2025, when compared with Canada’s three other largest provinces: Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
Despite having 16% of the GDP generated by the four provinces and 18% of their population, B.C. is projected to account for only 15.3% of the engineering jobs for the five-year period.
From 2015 to 2019, B.C. created an average of 2,115 engineering jobs per year. That is expected to drop 41.9% to an average of 1,251 each year between 2020 and 2025. The average number of engineering jobs expected to be created over the same period is 1,260 in Quebec, 1,473 in Alberta and 4,200 in Ontario.
But the report says B.C. will account for 39.7% of the new geological engineering jobs in the four largest provinces over the five-year period.
