Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market

Outline
• Why does OSPE call it a crisis?
• Which sectors are having trouble getting experienced engineers.
• The underemployment level by profession and province.
• The impact of the supply/demand gaps since 1996.
• Problems specific to internationally trained engineers (ITE’s).
• Recruiting disconnects that affect ITE’s.
• Experience and training challenges affecting all engineers.
• Potential solutions.
• Supplementary labour market data (ITE’s, females, salaries).
• Q/A
 Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market
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Ontario’s Engineering Profession

 PEO - Professional Engineers Ontario is the regulatory authority.
 Governs license and certificate holders.
 Regulates “professional engineering” in Ontario to serve and protect
the public.
 Membership is mandatory.
 OSPE - Ontario Society of Professional Engineers is the voice of the
engineering profession in Ontario.
 Advances the professional and economic interests of all Ontario
engineers.
 Advocates on behalf of the profession with governments, industry
and the public.
 Membership is voluntary.
 OSPE was created by PEO in 2000 to separate the “regulatory” and “self
interest” activities similar to the medical and legal professions in Ontario.
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Why Does OSPE Call it a Crisis ?

• From 2011 to 2020 about 111,000 engineering jobs will become available
in Canada mostly for engineers with over 10 years experience to replace
retirees. Ref 1)
• From 2011 to 2020 about 182,000 engineers will enter the work force in
Canada but most do not have sufficient sector specific experience to
qualify for the available jobs. Ref 1)
• This disconnect (insufficient number of engineering jobs and the need for
sector specific experience) is creating severe underemployment in the
engineering profession. Ref 2)

1) Engineers Canada report “The Engineering Labour Market in Canada: Projections

to 2020, Final Report, October 2012”.
2) OSPE report “From Classroom to Career” based on Statistics Canada 2011
National Household Survey data.
 Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market
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Employers Can’t Find Experienced Engineers

Percentage of respondents who have had “difficulty finding people with adequate skills”. Ref 3)

3) Ontario Chamber of Commerce, 2013 Pre-Budget Submission.

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Engineering Underemployment Levels are High

“Underemployment” is defined as a university graduate working in jobs that do not require
a university degree (the RED bars in the charts below). Ref 2)

2) OSPE report “From Classroom to Career”.

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Impact of Engineering Supply/Demand Mismatch

Ontarians With a Degree With Engineering as Major
Field of Study vs Those Working in Engineering
300000

250000

200000

150000

100000

50000

0
1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Degree Working in Engineering

StatsCan 1996, 2001 & 2006 Census and 2011 National Household Survey data.
 Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market
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Complicating Factors for ITE’s

• Internationally trained engineers (ITE) could potentially meet the experience
requirements of the vacancies, however,
• Employer recruiting processes and ITE job search practices make it unlikely
an ITE will be matched to the job. Ref 4)
• ITE’s find that employers request a Canadian license even though the
Professional Engineers Act in most provinces provide a personal exception
to do engineering work under the direction of a licensed engineer to allow
the ITE to acquire their 1 year of Canadian experience to obtain a license.
• These factors create a very high underemployment rate for ITE’s -
approximately double that of new Canadian engineering graduates. Ref 2)
2) OSPE’s “From Classroom to Career” based on Statistics Canada 2011 National
Household Survey data.
4) OSPE’s “From the World to the Workforce: Hiring and Recruitment Perceptions of
Engineering Employers and Internationally Trained Engineers in Ontario”.
www.ospe.on.ca/world-to-workforce
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Recruiting and Job Search Disconnects for ITE’s

Employers place a high value on soft
skills after technical and sector
experience is satisfied. Ref 4)
Percent ranking specific soft skills as
‘important’ or ‘very important’ on a 1-5 scale.
Spoken communication skills.
Ability to relate to customers or clients.
Ability to work in a team.
Ability to work with diverse groups of
people.
Ability to work with opposite gender.
Written communication skills.
Knowledge of Canadian business practices.
Employers find that some ITE’s:
• Do not place enough emphasis on
their soft skills at the interview.
• Over-estimate their English language
skills.
• Fail to tailor resumes and covering
98% letters to the specific requirements of
98% the job.
97%
• Fail to describe how their experiences
97% are relevant to the job.
• Do not respond well to behaviour-
95%
95%
based interview questions.
4) OSPE’s “From the World to the Workforce”
78%
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Complicating Factors - for All Engineers

• Recent graduates have difficulty acquiring experience and becoming
licensed because of a scarcity of entry level engineering positions.
• Canadian experienced engineers wanting to move to another sector lack
the sector specific skills required by employers and have no practical means
to acquire those skills on their own.
• Only 14% of engineers in small companies and 35% of engineers in large
companies have formal training and development plans. Ref 5)

5) Prism Economics and Analysis, May 2011, “2010 Survey of Working Conditions
for Engineers”.
 Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market
Potential Solutions
Employers need to:
• Train & develop their own
“experienced” engineers.
• Modify their candidate
screening processes.
• Take advantage of
government training &
bridging programs.
• Work collectively within each
sector to define job
requirements and source
training institutions to deliver
sector specific training.
• Use OSPE engineering
employer resource center at:
http://www.ospe.on.ca/page/
EERCHome.
Engineers need to:
• Improve their resume writing
skills.
• Improve their interview
skills.
• Improve their English
language skills (ITE’s).
• Improve their networking
skills.
• innovation that stimulates
Demonstrate how their
knowledge and experience
will meet job requirements.
• Use available government
training and employment
support programs.
• Use OSPE professional
development and career
services center at:
http://www.ospe.on.ca.
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Governments need to:
• Partner with employers to
provide more entry level
positions.
• Partner with industry
sectors to provide sector
specific training.
• Invest in research,
development and
engineering driven
companies that create the
high skilled jobs we need to
employ growing levels of
post secondary graduates.
• Develop special programs
for ITE’s and female
engineers that face unique
labour market challenges.
Crisis In Canada’s Engineering Labour Market
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Supplementary
Data
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Supplementary Data
92% of engineering 4th year students want to work in an engineering job.

Ipsos-Reid Survey for Professional Engineers Ontario.

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Supplementary Data
Comparison by Gender by Location of Study: As % ITE’s face a more
of Total Engineering Degree Holders (225,490) difficult labour
market than
Degree Outside Canada - Female Canadian
graduates.
Degree In Canada - Female

Women
Degree Outside Canada - Male engineers face a
more difficult
Degree In Canada - Male labour market
than male
All engineers.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
StatsCan 2011 National
% Engineering % Normally Requiring Degree % Not Necessarily Requiring Degree Household Survey data.
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Supplementary Data
Ontario Engineering Market is oversupplied with new graduates and
ITE’s with insufficient sector skills that are required by employers.

Growth Replacement
Oversupply = 4199

New Graduates – Bachelors Degree Immigrants and TFWs

Engineers Canada report “The Engineering Labour Market in Canada:

Projections to 2020, Final Report, October 2012”.
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Supplementary Data
Underemployment affects other Ontario university graduates also.
The economy is not creating enough university level jobs !

StatsCan 2011 National Household Survey data.

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Supplementary Data
More money is not the reason engineers move
away from engineering jobs.

StatsCan 2011
National
Household Survey
data.

Covers the entire

engineering
community.
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Supplementary Data
Engineers make more than most other university graduates
but their salaries are not keeping up with inflation !

OSPE-Mercer
Engineering
Employers Annual
Salary Survey.

Covers major
employers of
engineers. Does not
cover the entire
engineering
community.
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Questions ?

To access an electronic copy of the 2015 Underemployment report, go to:

www.ospe.on.ca/resource/resmgr/DOC_advocacy/2015_REPORT
_Underemployment_.pdf

This presentation can be downloaded at:

http://www.ospe.on.ca/?page=pres_lib#peo

Would you like to become a member of OSPE? Visit:

http://www.ospe.on.ca/?page=JOIN
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www.ospe.on.ca
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