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Environmental Job Market Trends (October to December 2020)

Job Posting Analysis: Data in real time

At ECO Canada, we continuously look for ways to deepen our understanding of the environmental job market and to improve the value of our reporting. Our Job Posting Analysis (JPA) interactive dashboard provides a snapshot of online recruitment activity levels and trends for Canadian environmental roles. We update our platform each quarter to share the most recent data, trends and insights by region, occupation, industry and environmental specialization.

A Year in Perspective: Ending 2020 on a High Note

As we reach the first anniversary since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, online recruitment activities in Canada are continuing to rebound—demonstrating greater employer confidence as we navigate from economic recovery to growth.

From October to December (Q4), over 850,000 unique jobs were advertised online in Canada. Of these, a little over 35,000 were for environmental positions – representing a 4.2% EnviroShare (proportion of environmental job ads to total job ads) for job vacancies in the environmental sector.

Throughout 2020, there were over 141,520 environmental job openings advertised, reflecting a 4.1% EnviroShare. By the end of the year, the number of online environmental job ads was 37% higher than posted in June.

*Interactive Spotlight Report may take a moment to load

Ontario saw almost 12,000 environmental job postings in Q4, making up about a third of all environmental jobs advertised across Canada. British Columbia (7,900) and Quebec (7,600) followed closely behind. Although Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut posted the fewest environmental job ads compared to the provinces of Canada, the territories had an EnviroShare larger than the national average at 26%, 24% and 23%, respectively. Prince Edward Island (9%) and Saskatchewan (8%) registered a high EnviroShare relative to other provinces.

In 2020, environmental job ads were highest for Civil engineers, Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety, and Professional occupations in business management consulting. In Q4, however, Information systems analysts and consultants took the third spot based on the number of environmental job ads. This is not surprising given the increasing pressure to conduct business online.

In Q4, a high proportion of online job ads for Managers in aquaculture, Supervisors, logging and forestry, Forestry professionals, and Meteorologists and climatologists were mapped to environmental roles. Each had over a 60% EnviroShare, considerably higher than the 4.2% across all occupations.

Sustainability, Energy and Natural Resource Management specializations had the greatest number of job ads in Q4 and overall in 2020. From October to December of last year, all environmental specializations demonstrated a continued trend upward to pre-pandemic levels, with the exception of Sustainability, which experienced a small decrease in Q4 from Q3 (-123).

The largest number of online environmental job postings has consistently been in Professional, scientific and technical services, Manufacturing, and Public administration since 2018. In 2020, however, Health care and social assistance pushed its way into the top three industries, displacing Public administration —likely due to the critical role this industry plays in a pandemic. Health care and social assistance was also the second largest industry recruiter for environmental workers in Q4.

Despite these shifts, Public administration remains the top industry recruiting for environmental positions for the territories in 2020. In contrast, the Professional, scientific and technical services industry is the top advertiser for the provinces.

Return of Employer Confidence in Canada

Although temporary restrictions were introduced in December, the number of environmental job ads increased slightly from Q3 to Q4 — revealing growth for two consecutive quarters. Also, Q3 and Q4 2020 environmental job postings surpassed the number of job vacancies seen two years ago.

Total environmental job postings for the year still remain 11% below 2019 but are up by 12% since 2018. The annual EnviroShare has also been on an upward trend over the last two years, from 2.8% in 2018 to 3.7% in 2019 to 4.1% in 2020 (↑1.3 percentage points). This suggests that current market trends disproportionately affected job vacancies outside of the environmental sector. Not only is employer confidence returning to pre-pandemic levels, but the data also indicates that a greener economic recovery is underway.

*Interactive Trends Report may take a moment to load

Residual effects of the economic shutdown were most pronounced from April to June of 2020 and continued through to the end of the year. Total environmental job postings in 2020 decreased from 2019 by 18,355 ads, with 94% of this job vacancy loss being absorbed by British Columbia (-9,116), Alberta (-4,671), and Quebec (-3,478).

All occupational groups experienced a reduction in environmental job ads from 2019, with large decreases observed in Natural and applied sciences and related occupations (-6,550), Management occupations (-3,715) and Business, finance and administration occupations (-2,713). One exception to this trend was Health occupations, which underwent a 25% increase to 5,377 environmental job postings in 2020.

In 2020, Public administration, Accommodation and food services, and Manufacturing industries experienced the largest decrease in environmental job postings. Of these industries, Public administration has shown signs of gradual recovery in Q4 2020 (+94), whereas Accommodation and food services and Manufacturing have continued to see decreases in environmental job ads (-148 and -212, respectively). Unlike most industries, Health care and social assistance saw an increase to 9,950 (+1,516) in environmental job ads relative to 2019.

Looking Ahead

As we transition into a new year, market uncertainty is expected to continue and influence environmental job vacancies across Canada. The prospect of vaccinations for Canadians has created much needed optimism, but the lagging rollout has created additional uncertainty. Bank of Canada has highlighted that there is going to be a need for monetary stimulus to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economy and that there will likely be long-term scarring on the labour market.

Our findings also complement the Future Skills Centre’s Labour Demand Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic report, which identified that workers employed in industries where social distancing is not possible were hardest hit throughout the pandemic.

In the case of environmental workers of declining industries, these trends may be less cause for concern. ECO Canada’s Environmental Labour Supply Outlook found that environmental workers have the qualifications to work in a number of different industries. Therefore, a decline in certain industries does not mean that those industry workers cannot find positions elsewhere.

ECO Canada will continue to actively monitor job posting data to provide timely, relevant, and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce.

governmemt of canada logo
Funded by the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program

The opinions and interpretations in this publication are ECO Canada’s and do not necessarily reflect those held by the Government of Canada

With at least 75% of job vacancies in Canada advertised on the web, online job posting data have emerged as a useful indicator of hiring needs and trends. Millions of jobs are posted online daily by employers in Canada, providing an opportunity for researchers to study the state of the job market in real time.

ECO Canada gathers and analyzes trends within the green economy to provide up-to-date, relevant, and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce. One approach to guide decision making within organizations and individuals is to analyze the number of environmental jobs advertised online. Our Job Posting Analysis (JPA) presents a snapshot of online recruitment activity and trends for Canadian environmental workers. Data and insights include numbers of environmental online job ads by region, occupation and environmental specialization, and the proportion of all online job ads that represent environmental work across the country over time.

Canada’s environmental workforce is spread throughout industries and occupations. Because of this, it is not possible to directly gather data on the environmental workers using standard employment data classifications, such as the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system. ECO Canada has developed an approach to analyze environmental job vacancies in Canada to address this unique challenge.

Learn more about our methodology

Labour Market Information Publications

Job Posting Analysis reports inform environmental job opportunities in Canada, the types of jobs being posted, and the occupations and skills that are in the greatest demand. With this information, our stakeholders can identify trends, gaps and opportunities for environmental workers and support the development and maintenance of a qualified and productive workforce.

Though informative on its own, this JPA report focuses on only one part of ECO Canada’s approach to understanding the job market for environmental workers. We also publish labour demand and labour supply outlook reports to estimate of the size of Canada’s environmental workforce by region and occupation, based in part on the EnviroShare derived from JPA.

Our complete report collection is available at eco.ca/research.

Career Resources

ECO Canada gathers and analyzes skills and labour market trends within the environmental workforce to provide up-to-date, relevant data and insights for policy, business and educational purposes. Our reports support our stakeholders in four key areas: (1) employers—plan and attract qualified candidates, (2) individuals—prepare for and build their environmental careers, (3) governments—develop programs and update policies, (4) educators and trainers—adapt their offerings to prepare the workforce that is and will be in demand.

Environmental employment in Canada is projected to grow by 8.1% from 2019 to 2029. This will result in a total of 50,100 new jobs. In addition to these new opportunities, an estimated 183,400 employees will gradually retire within the next decade. With nearly 30% of the current environmental workforce expected to vacate their mostly mid to senior-level roles, career progression opportunities for current and future workers will be created.

Our organization responds to labour market needs through the development of human resource tools for employers, the accreditation of post-secondary environmental programs, the delivery of employment programs for students and graduates, and the certification and training of environmental professionals.

Discover key resources ECO Canada has developed to support the sustainability of Canada’s environmental workforce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Online job postings provide timely, detailed estimates of the number and distribution of job vacancies. Millions of jobs are posted online by employers in Canada. Statistics Canada’s Job Vacancy and Wage Survey data suggest at least 75% of all job vacancies are posted online every quarter. ECO Canada publishes Job Posting Analysis (JPA) reports to describe in part, the state of Canada’s environmental labour market within a given period and over time.

1) What does online job posting data tell us about the labour market?

Online job postings provide timely, detailed estimates of the number and distribution of job vacancies.  Millions of jobs are posted online by employers in Canada.  Statistics Canada’s Job Vacancy and Wage Survey data suggest at least 75% of all job vacancies are posted online every quarter.  ECO Canada publishes Job Posting Analysis (JPA) reports to describe the state of Canada’s environmental labour market within a given period and over time.

2) How representative are online job postings of the Canadian environmental labour market?

Online job postings provide unique insights on employment opportunities and skills requirements sought by employers. However, some caution is required when interpreting job posting data. Online job postings are often skewed towards professional and service sector occupations and may underrepresent trades and other manual labour professions.

3) What will I learn from ECO Canada’s JPA reports?

The JPA report is a resource for those interested in understanding environmental job opportunities in Canada, the types of jobs being posted, and the occupations and skills that are in the greatest demand.  With this information, our stakeholders can identify trends, gaps and opportunities for environmental workers and support the development and maintenance of a qualified and productive workforce. ECO Canada aims to help government, academia, environmental employers and workers benchmark and analyse trends in the environmental job market and assess current and future workforce needs.

4) How often is the JPA report updated?

ECO Canada updates job posting data every four months (February, April, July and October), or on a quarterly basis, and reflect the environmental ads for the previous period.  Information presented in the report spotlights the distribution of job vacancies across Canada and highlights national and regional trends for industries, occupations and specializations that compose the environmental workforce.

5) Where does job posting data come from?

Our research uses a dataset compiled by Gartner TalentNeuron, which includes job ads from sources such as Monster.ca, the Canada Job Bank, Emploi-Québec, WorkBC, BCJobs.ca, JobServe, ECO Job Board, as well as the job boards of individual companies.

The TalentNeuron dataset includes information such as the full text of the job description (in French or English), job type (full-time versus part-time), location, level of desired education, and additional skills or certifications required for the position. TalentNeuron analyzes posting data to identify unique positions by filtering out duplications across multiple sites. If key components of information are missing, these data were not included in the analysis.

ECO Canada job posting analysis origins

6) What is an environmental worker?

ECO Canada describes an environmental worker as those employed within environmental goods and services companies regardless of the occupation and those with specialized environmental competencies regardless of the industry employer.

ECO Canada environmental job classification

7) What is NOC?

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s standard for describing occupations. Both core environmental and environmental goods and services sector employment are spread across industries and occupations and do not align precisely with traditional taxonomies such as NOC. ECO Canada maps environmental job ads to each NOC using the information provided by employers for vacancies such as job title, main duties and educational requirements. With this approach, ECO Canada can analyze the demand and supply for the workforce, which would otherwise be unavailable.

8) What is an EnviroShare?

ECO Canada coined the term EnviroShare to present the proportion of environmental job ads as a percentage of total online job ads. The EnviroShare method accounts for shifts in occupational and geographical distribution to permit a more granular approach to analyzing job vacancies in Canada.

While an occupation might rank high in the number of environmental job ads, its EnviroShare might be higher or lower compared to the national average. Determining the number of online job ads that are classified as environmental is one measure of the JPA. Analyzing the occupations by their EnviroShare presents a different perspective.

9) What is NAICS?

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is Canada’s standard for categorizing industries.  This system has been developed and adopted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, to allow for comparison among the three nations. Environmental employment is spread across industries and does not align precisely with traditional taxonomies such as NAICS. ECO Canada maps environmental job ads to each NAICS using the information provided by employers in their job postings.

10) What is a Specialization?

ECO Canada’s sub-sector model segments the workforce into areas related to protecting, managing and sustaining the environment. Environmental employment involves the performance of activities that seek to manage sustainable use of resources, assess or minimize environmental impacts, and maintain or restore ecological integrity of the environment. These activities relate to planning, implementing and managing environmental initiatives, programs, products or services, and developing and disseminating environmental knowledge and awareness. In practice, most environmental professionals specialize within more than one of the 14 diverse sub-sectors. ECO Canada develops National Occupational Standards for each of these environmental specializations and has defined 332 technical competencies to guide career development.

NOS specializations eco canada

Comments and Feedback

Research is ongoing at ECO Canada and reports are routinely published to provide timely, relevant and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce. Please consider completing a 5 minute survey to inform future Job Posting Analysis reports.

Take the survey

We welcome comments and discussion of all our LMI reports. Contact research@eco.ca

+ JPA Report

Job Posting Analysis: Data in real time

At ECO Canada, we continuously look for ways to deepen our understanding of the environmental job market and to improve the value of our reporting. Our Job Posting Analysis (JPA) interactive dashboard provides a snapshot of online recruitment activity levels and trends for Canadian environmental roles. We update our platform each quarter to share the most recent data, trends and insights by region, occupation, industry and environmental specialization.

A Year in Perspective: Ending 2020 on a High Note

As we reach the first anniversary since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, online recruitment activities in Canada are continuing to rebound—demonstrating greater employer confidence as we navigate from economic recovery to growth.

From October to December (Q4), over 850,000 unique jobs were advertised online in Canada. Of these, a little over 35,000 were for environmental positions – representing a 4.2% EnviroShare (proportion of environmental job ads to total job ads) for job vacancies in the environmental sector.

Throughout 2020, there were over 141,520 environmental job openings advertised, reflecting a 4.1% EnviroShare. By the end of the year, the number of online environmental job ads was 37% higher than posted in June.

*Interactive Spotlight Report may take a moment to load

Ontario saw almost 12,000 environmental job postings in Q4, making up about a third of all environmental jobs advertised across Canada. British Columbia (7,900) and Quebec (7,600) followed closely behind. Although Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut posted the fewest environmental job ads compared to the provinces of Canada, the territories had an EnviroShare larger than the national average at 26%, 24% and 23%, respectively. Prince Edward Island (9%) and Saskatchewan (8%) registered a high EnviroShare relative to other provinces.

In 2020, environmental job ads were highest for Civil engineers, Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety, and Professional occupations in business management consulting. In Q4, however, Information systems analysts and consultants took the third spot based on the number of environmental job ads. This is not surprising given the increasing pressure to conduct business online.

In Q4, a high proportion of online job ads for Managers in aquaculture, Supervisors, logging and forestry, Forestry professionals, and Meteorologists and climatologists were mapped to environmental roles. Each had over a 60% EnviroShare, considerably higher than the 4.2% across all occupations.

Sustainability, Energy and Natural Resource Management specializations had the greatest number of job ads in Q4 and overall in 2020. From October to December of last year, all environmental specializations demonstrated a continued trend upward to pre-pandemic levels, with the exception of Sustainability, which experienced a small decrease in Q4 from Q3 (-123).

The largest number of online environmental job postings has consistently been in Professional, scientific and technical services, Manufacturing, and Public administration since 2018. In 2020, however, Health care and social assistance pushed its way into the top three industries, displacing Public administration —likely due to the critical role this industry plays in a pandemic. Health care and social assistance was also the second largest industry recruiter for environmental workers in Q4.

Despite these shifts, Public administration remains the top industry recruiting for environmental positions for the territories in 2020. In contrast, the Professional, scientific and technical services industry is the top advertiser for the provinces.

Return of Employer Confidence in Canada

Although temporary restrictions were introduced in December, the number of environmental job ads increased slightly from Q3 to Q4 — revealing growth for two consecutive quarters. Also, Q3 and Q4 2020 environmental job postings surpassed the number of job vacancies seen two years ago.

Total environmental job postings for the year still remain 11% below 2019 but are up by 12% since 2018. The annual EnviroShare has also been on an upward trend over the last two years, from 2.8% in 2018 to 3.7% in 2019 to 4.1% in 2020 (↑1.3 percentage points). This suggests that current market trends disproportionately affected job vacancies outside of the environmental sector. Not only is employer confidence returning to pre-pandemic levels, but the data also indicates that a greener economic recovery is underway.

*Interactive Trends Report may take a moment to load

Residual effects of the economic shutdown were most pronounced from April to June of 2020 and continued through to the end of the year. Total environmental job postings in 2020 decreased from 2019 by 18,355 ads, with 94% of this job vacancy loss being absorbed by British Columbia (-9,116), Alberta (-4,671), and Quebec (-3,478).

All occupational groups experienced a reduction in environmental job ads from 2019, with large decreases observed in Natural and applied sciences and related occupations (-6,550), Management occupations (-3,715) and Business, finance and administration occupations (-2,713). One exception to this trend was Health occupations, which underwent a 25% increase to 5,377 environmental job postings in 2020.

In 2020, Public administration, Accommodation and food services, and Manufacturing industries experienced the largest decrease in environmental job postings. Of these industries, Public administration has shown signs of gradual recovery in Q4 2020 (+94), whereas Accommodation and food services and Manufacturing have continued to see decreases in environmental job ads (-148 and -212, respectively). Unlike most industries, Health care and social assistance saw an increase to 9,950 (+1,516) in environmental job ads relative to 2019.

Looking Ahead

As we transition into a new year, market uncertainty is expected to continue and influence environmental job vacancies across Canada. The prospect of vaccinations for Canadians has created much needed optimism, but the lagging rollout has created additional uncertainty. Bank of Canada has highlighted that there is going to be a need for monetary stimulus to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economy and that there will likely be long-term scarring on the labour market.

Our findings also complement the Future Skills Centre’s Labour Demand Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic report, which identified that workers employed in industries where social distancing is not possible were hardest hit throughout the pandemic.

In the case of environmental workers of declining industries, these trends may be less cause for concern. ECO Canada’s Environmental Labour Supply Outlook found that environmental workers have the qualifications to work in a number of different industries. Therefore, a decline in certain industries does not mean that those industry workers cannot find positions elsewhere.

ECO Canada will continue to actively monitor job posting data to provide timely, relevant, and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce.

governmemt of canada logo
Funded by the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program

The opinions and interpretations in this publication are ECO Canada’s and do not necessarily reflect those held by the Government of Canada

+ Methodology

With at least 75% of job vacancies in Canada advertised on the web, online job posting data have emerged as a useful indicator of hiring needs and trends. Millions of jobs are posted online daily by employers in Canada, providing an opportunity for researchers to study the state of the job market in real time.

ECO Canada gathers and analyzes trends within the green economy to provide up-to-date, relevant, and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce. One approach to guide decision making within organizations and individuals is to analyze the number of environmental jobs advertised online. Our Job Posting Analysis (JPA) presents a snapshot of online recruitment activity and trends for Canadian environmental workers. Data and insights include numbers of environmental online job ads by region, occupation and environmental specialization, and the proportion of all online job ads that represent environmental work across the country over time.

Canada’s environmental workforce is spread throughout industries and occupations. Because of this, it is not possible to directly gather data on the environmental workers using standard employment data classifications, such as the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system. ECO Canada has developed an approach to analyze environmental job vacancies in Canada to address this unique challenge.

Learn more about our methodology

Labour Market Information Publications

Job Posting Analysis reports inform environmental job opportunities in Canada, the types of jobs being posted, and the occupations and skills that are in the greatest demand. With this information, our stakeholders can identify trends, gaps and opportunities for environmental workers and support the development and maintenance of a qualified and productive workforce.

Though informative on its own, this JPA report focuses on only one part of ECO Canada’s approach to understanding the job market for environmental workers. We also publish labour demand and labour supply outlook reports to estimate of the size of Canada’s environmental workforce by region and occupation, based in part on the EnviroShare derived from JPA.

Our complete report collection is available at eco.ca/research.

+ Career Resources

Career Resources

ECO Canada gathers and analyzes skills and labour market trends within the environmental workforce to provide up-to-date, relevant data and insights for policy, business and educational purposes. Our reports support our stakeholders in four key areas: (1) employers—plan and attract qualified candidates, (2) individuals—prepare for and build their environmental careers, (3) governments—develop programs and update policies, (4) educators and trainers—adapt their offerings to prepare the workforce that is and will be in demand.

Environmental employment in Canada is projected to grow by 8.1% from 2019 to 2029. This will result in a total of 50,100 new jobs. In addition to these new opportunities, an estimated 183,400 employees will gradually retire within the next decade. With nearly 30% of the current environmental workforce expected to vacate their mostly mid to senior-level roles, career progression opportunities for current and future workers will be created.

Our organization responds to labour market needs through the development of human resource tools for employers, the accreditation of post-secondary environmental programs, the delivery of employment programs for students and graduates, and the certification and training of environmental professionals.

Discover key resources ECO Canada has developed to support the sustainability of Canada’s environmental workforce.

+ FAQs and Feedback

Frequently Asked Questions

Online job postings provide timely, detailed estimates of the number and distribution of job vacancies. Millions of jobs are posted online by employers in Canada. Statistics Canada’s Job Vacancy and Wage Survey data suggest at least 75% of all job vacancies are posted online every quarter. ECO Canada publishes Job Posting Analysis (JPA) reports to describe in part, the state of Canada’s environmental labour market within a given period and over time.

1) What does online job posting data tell us about the labour market?

Online job postings provide timely, detailed estimates of the number and distribution of job vacancies.  Millions of jobs are posted online by employers in Canada.  Statistics Canada’s Job Vacancy and Wage Survey data suggest at least 75% of all job vacancies are posted online every quarter.  ECO Canada publishes Job Posting Analysis (JPA) reports to describe the state of Canada’s environmental labour market within a given period and over time.

2) How representative are online job postings of the Canadian environmental labour market?

Online job postings provide unique insights on employment opportunities and skills requirements sought by employers. However, some caution is required when interpreting job posting data. Online job postings are often skewed towards professional and service sector occupations and may underrepresent trades and other manual labour professions.

3) What will I learn from ECO Canada’s JPA reports?

The JPA report is a resource for those interested in understanding environmental job opportunities in Canada, the types of jobs being posted, and the occupations and skills that are in the greatest demand.  With this information, our stakeholders can identify trends, gaps and opportunities for environmental workers and support the development and maintenance of a qualified and productive workforce. ECO Canada aims to help government, academia, environmental employers and workers benchmark and analyse trends in the environmental job market and assess current and future workforce needs.

4) How often is the JPA report updated?

ECO Canada updates job posting data every four months (February, April, July and October), or on a quarterly basis, and reflect the environmental ads for the previous period.  Information presented in the report spotlights the distribution of job vacancies across Canada and highlights national and regional trends for industries, occupations and specializations that compose the environmental workforce.

5) Where does job posting data come from?

Our research uses a dataset compiled by Gartner TalentNeuron, which includes job ads from sources such as Monster.ca, the Canada Job Bank, Emploi-Québec, WorkBC, BCJobs.ca, JobServe, ECO Job Board, as well as the job boards of individual companies.

The TalentNeuron dataset includes information such as the full text of the job description (in French or English), job type (full-time versus part-time), location, level of desired education, and additional skills or certifications required for the position. TalentNeuron analyzes posting data to identify unique positions by filtering out duplications across multiple sites. If key components of information are missing, these data were not included in the analysis.

ECO Canada job posting analysis origins

6) What is an environmental worker?

ECO Canada describes an environmental worker as those employed within environmental goods and services companies regardless of the occupation and those with specialized environmental competencies regardless of the industry employer.

ECO Canada environmental job classification

7) What is NOC?

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s standard for describing occupations. Both core environmental and environmental goods and services sector employment are spread across industries and occupations and do not align precisely with traditional taxonomies such as NOC. ECO Canada maps environmental job ads to each NOC using the information provided by employers for vacancies such as job title, main duties and educational requirements. With this approach, ECO Canada can analyze the demand and supply for the workforce, which would otherwise be unavailable.

8) What is an EnviroShare?

ECO Canada coined the term EnviroShare to present the proportion of environmental job ads as a percentage of total online job ads. The EnviroShare method accounts for shifts in occupational and geographical distribution to permit a more granular approach to analyzing job vacancies in Canada.

While an occupation might rank high in the number of environmental job ads, its EnviroShare might be higher or lower compared to the national average. Determining the number of online job ads that are classified as environmental is one measure of the JPA. Analyzing the occupations by their EnviroShare presents a different perspective.

9) What is NAICS?

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is Canada’s standard for categorizing industries.  This system has been developed and adopted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, to allow for comparison among the three nations. Environmental employment is spread across industries and does not align precisely with traditional taxonomies such as NAICS. ECO Canada maps environmental job ads to each NAICS using the information provided by employers in their job postings.

10) What is a Specialization?

ECO Canada’s sub-sector model segments the workforce into areas related to protecting, managing and sustaining the environment. Environmental employment involves the performance of activities that seek to manage sustainable use of resources, assess or minimize environmental impacts, and maintain or restore ecological integrity of the environment. These activities relate to planning, implementing and managing environmental initiatives, programs, products or services, and developing and disseminating environmental knowledge and awareness. In practice, most environmental professionals specialize within more than one of the 14 diverse sub-sectors. ECO Canada develops National Occupational Standards for each of these environmental specializations and has defined 332 technical competencies to guide career development.

NOS specializations eco canada

Comments and Feedback

Research is ongoing at ECO Canada and reports are routinely published to provide timely, relevant and credible information and insights on Canada’s environmental workforce. Please consider completing a 5 minute survey to inform future Job Posting Analysis reports.

Take the survey

We welcome comments and discussion of all our LMI reports. Contact research@eco.ca



1-800-890-1924 // info@eco.ca