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There are over 682,000 environmental employees in Canada (4% of total workforce) who spend 50% or more of their time on environmental activities. Over 2,000,000 workers (12% of total workforce) spend some of their time on environmental activities.
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Over 318,000 organizations in Canada employ at least one environmental employee (approximately 17% of Canadian organizations have one or more environmental employees).
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87% of environmental workers state that “a desire to improve the environment” is a key factor in their decision to make it their career.
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Recent immigrants are more likely to have a university education than Canadian-born individuals (Statistics Canada, The Immigrant Labour Force Analysis Series: The Canadian Immigrant Labour Market in 2007, Catalogue no. 71-606-X2008003, 2008).
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Demographic groups within the environmental workforce include:
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40% of all environmental employees are women (representing 45% of the total Canadian employed labour force);
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2.5% of all environmental employees are Aboriginal persons;
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5.5% of environmental employees are recent immigrants (within the past 5 years); and
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About a quarter (24%) is below 30 years of age. Fourteen percent of the environmental workforce is age 55 or older.
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41% of environmental consulting firms state that their staff requires further training in environmental skills
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40% of waste management and environmental consulting firms state that their staff requires further training in essential skills
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42% of employers lost workers because they were offered better benefits, higher income, better work-life balance, or better career opportunities at another organization. Only 19% of environmental employers lost workers due to reduction in workforce (layoffs) during the March 2009 - March 2010 period.
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Retirements of environmental workers will create vacancies over the next decade as over 100,000 environmental employees (14% of the environmental workforce) reach retirement age.