In a significant trend highlighted by a recent report from The Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and Canada’s Tech Network (CTN), India has emerged as the leading contributor to Canada’s tech industry workforce.
The study, titled ‘Tech Workforce Trends: The Migration of Tech Workers and Tech Jobs Since The Pandemic,’ covered the period between April 2022 and March 2023, revealing that India sent the largest cohort of tech professionals to Canada.
Among the key findings, over 32,000 tech workers migrated to Canada during the specified timeframe, with a staggering 15,097 of them originating from India. Nigeria followed suit with 1,808 tech workers making the move. The report attributed this trend to Canada’s favorable immigration policies and the competitive advantage of labor costs in the country’s tech sector.
The cities of Mississauga and Montreal have emerged as prominent destinations for tech talent. Mississauga, boasting a substantial tech ecosystem with nearly 1,000 IT companies and over 300,000 tech professionals, attracted 1,900 tech workers from around the world. Meanwhile, Montreal witnessed the arrival of 959 tech workers during the same period, experiencing a remarkable 31 percent growth in its tech ecosystem between 2015 and 2020.
Amidst the global shortage of skilled tech workers, this influx of talent from India and other countries has addressed a critical need for the industry. The report predicts a promising future for Canada’s tech workforce, suggesting that this migration could contribute to the country’s tech occupation sector’s prosperity.
The report also underlined that Canada’s appeal stretches beyond international borders. Notably, the country has attracted American tech talent, including Indians, from major cities such as Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. In an effort to further enhance its tech talent pool, Canada has initiated a program that offers open work permits to H1-B visa holders from the United States. Given that Indians comprise nearly 75 percent of H1-B visa holders in the U.S., they are expected to significantly benefit from this program.
According to the Business Development Bank of Canada’s industry outlook report, the nation’s tech ecosystem is poised for substantial growth. Between 2015 and 2020, the tech sector experienced an impressive average annual revenue growth rate of 9.4 percent. The year 2022 witnessed Canada hosting over 400,000 software developers.
The report also identified the most coveted tech skills in Canada, including customer experience, Microsoft Azure, analytical skills, Amazon Web Services, Jira, data science, GitHub, and Customer Relationship Management. With Canada’s tech industry evolving at a rapid pace and becoming increasingly attractive to global talent, the nation’s role in the global tech landscape is expected to strengthen further.
