Is There Evidence of an Information and Communication Technology Labour Shortage in the Canadian Labour Force Survey?

Abstract

It has been suggested that there is a persistent and continuing shortage of information and communication technology (ICT) workers in Canada. We examine this claim in the context of confidential microdata from the Canadian Labour Force Survey for 1987–2016. For ICT- related occupations, there are indications of increases in hours per employee, overtime, and junior hiring from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, but these tendencies do not persist beyond this period. There is some evidence that any tightness in the ICT labour market beyond the early 2000s may have been relieved by immigration rather than by wage increases, arguably dulling the incentives for Canadian residents of university and college age to train for and to pursue ICT careers.