Original Article by: Mary Teresa Bitti
April 22, 2009
Since graduating from Royal Roads University in 1999, David Oswald has done everything from designing an exhibit on alternative energy for Expo 2000, to working on a sustainable development project training people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
His experiences reveal how the opportunities in the green marketplace today have grown to incorporate a broad range of prospects. “Environmental employment is cross-sectored and multidisciplinary," says Grant Trump, president of ECO Canada. "We are the thread that links almost every industry sector in the Canadian economy, because almost every organization has environmental considerations.”
Jobs that may not be considered environmental but have an environmental interest are now emerging. As a result, environmental employment grew 20% faster than employment in the general Canadian economy in 2007.
Even with a slight drop in employment as a result of the economic downturn, there is still a strong requirement for environmental people, according to Mr. Trump. "We are not recession proof, but we are recession resistant. People are keeping their jobs and we are seeing a 20% to 30% increase in admission requests at colleges and universities for their environmental programming."
Some of this growth can be credited to increased government spending and infrastructure packages being introduced not just in Canada but around the world. From where he sits, Mr. Trump sees a new economic landscape coming out of the downturn where sustainability takes a dominant role.
In response, Ryerson University is launching a sustainability certificate in the fall as part of its continuing education offering. "If you are going to be ready for the new economy, the economy of innovation, you are going to have to have skills and knowledge around how to tackle problems with a sustainability point of view," says Peter Monkhouse, program director engineering, architecture and science at the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University.
GREEN STATS:
Education - 153 college programs 239 university programs
Average base salary
- Natural resources $66,100
- Architecture and engineering $62,200
- Public service $61,300
- Construction, manufacturing and utilities $60,600
- Waste management $58,800
- Environmental consulting $58,000
- Service industry $55,900
FUTURE PROJECTIONS
Across Canada 65 % of employers in the environmental sector are expecting to expand in the next two years
- Air quality employers foresee growth of 14%
- Restoration and reclamation, 10%
- Research and development, 8%
- Natural resource management, 7%
For more statistics provided by ECO Canada check out our HR report summaries on the publications page.
To read the full article by Mary Bitti click here.
