The transformation of Canada’s workforce

By: Angie Knowles

October 18, 2011 - What is one of the key driving motives behind the development of the green economy? As noted in, “A Look at Ontario’s future,” (Ottawa Citizen, October 1 2011), it is the potential for economic renewal, including a much-needed transformation in Canadian employment.

In light of the green economy’s strong perceived potential, the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) Canada’s recent 2010 Profile on Canadian Environmental Employment and 2010 Canadian Environmental Sector Trends found additional evidence for the notable growth of green jobs and skills. According to the reports:

• Canada’s environmental sector employs 682,000 workers (or 4% of the Canadian working population) who spend 50% or more of their time performing environmental work activities. If this number is expanded to include employees who spend any amount of time on environment-related work, this produces a remarkable statistic of over 2 million workers (or 12% of Canada’s workforce).

• Environmental or “green” skills are becoming particularly important not just as new industries emerge, such as renewable energy and carbon and climate change mitigation, but also as sustainable practices are adopted by businesses outside of the traditional environmental sector. As a result, the proportion of Canadian organizations employing environmental professionals has increased. Compared to 105,000 establishments in 2007, there were 318,000 organizations employing environmental workers in 2010.

• Energy-related environmental activities have shown remarkable growth. Based on a Statistics Canada survey of environmental protection expenditures, Canadian businesses made expenditures of $2 billion for energy-related environmental processes in 2006. From 2002 to 2006, industry spending on energy efficiency nearly doubled, with a 16% average annual growth rate. As an additional indicator of growth, the number of certified energy advisors under the ecoENERGY program has also increased significantly. Between 2008 and 2009, the number of certified energy advisors in Canada grew from 1,004 in 2008 to 1,770 in 2009, representing a 76% increase, according to the ecoENERGY program.

The insights from these two recent reports represent ECO Canada’s larger commitment to developing labour market information that defines and measures the major trends affecting Canada’s environmental workforce.

For two decades, ECO Canada has focused on supporting Canada’s environment industry by communicating with industry stakeholders, conducting research and creating the necessary resources required to address the human resource needs that are vital to the success of this dynamic sector.

To learn more about the research currently underway at ECO Canada, please visit our publications page.