Report indicates Waterloo Region is a top Canadian area in attracting tech workers

Waterloo Region is proving to be a hot spot for tech talent.

A report from The Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and Canada’s Tech Network (CTN) called “Tech Workforce Trends: The Migration of Tech Workers and Tech Jobs Since The Pandemic,” looks at globalization and migration of tech occupations in the country.

Between April 2022, and March 2023, over 32,000 skilled workers migrated to Canada. The overwhelming majority are from India (15,097), with Nigeria (1,808) and Brazil (1,675) rounding out the top three countries Canadian workers are coming from.

The City of Waterloo is third among Canadian municipalities with 633 workers recruited when breaking down those findings by community. Kitchener ranks seventh with 437. Those numbers combined would make Waterloo Region second overall on the list, behind only Mississauga.

As for our province, Ontario has the most tech workers in the country, but our workforce isn’t expanding at the same rate as some of the smaller provinces. Of the 13 provinces and territories, Ontario ranked only sixth in one-year growth.

India makes up a large portion of Ontario’s new workers, but we have also gained 353 tech workers from Ukraine in the past year.

The report suggests this high amount of new tech workers is due to a more immigration-friendly national policy. That policy is welcomed by Chris Albinson, President and CEO of Communitech, a company headquartered in Waterloo Region.

“We are thrilled with the recent announcement by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, as it paves the way for Canada to welcome new workers into our tech ecosystem. This groundbreaking program is set to bring 10,000 highly skilled professionals to our country. In addition, the Toronto-Waterloo corridor, one of North America’s largest and fastest growing tech hubs, already attracts talented individuals on a daily basis, and this new initiative will propel our ecosystem to even greater heights.”

The report also indicates that Canada has recruited talent from major American cities like Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia, though overall, we have a net loss of 1,672 workers to the United States.

The average compensation for U.S. tech occupations per the report is $175,600 CAD, while the average compensation for the same tech occupations in Canada is $100,400 CAD.

You need to be a TECNA member to view the full report, but you can read more about the findings here.