Electrical engineering job prospects in Canada

[clint222]

Hello!

I am a Canadian high school student. I will be beginning engineering in university next year. I am interested in electrical and computer engineering, but I've heard bad things about the job prospects for electrical engineers in Canada.

How is the job market for computer/hardware engineers in Canada? Did you have difficulty finding work?

 

[Applesmack]

Check out this report:

http://www.engineerscanada.ca/files/engineering_labour_market_conditions_report_2010.pdf

Page 59 compares the expected engineering job outlook across Canada up to 2018. As you can see, electrical is no worse off than mechanical and better than chemical in its job growth across Canada. Infact, as a high school student you should graduate at a time when the electrical engineering market increases in demand. The report also evaluates the expected market by province, if you want somehting even more in depth.

In the end, electrical engineering is certainly in no crisis. The report varies the employment conditions between a level "3" and "4" with them being defined as:

3) Moderate supply pressures**
Difficulty in recruiting qualified engineering staff with more than 5 years of Canadian experience, with
industry or technology-specific skills, and with appropriate non-technical skills. The time required to
fill these positions is typically longer than historic norms. Vacancies sometimes need to be re-posted.
Employers actively solicit applications from outside the local and regional labour market and
reimburse applicants for travel expenses related to interviews, etc. Recruiting engineering staff with 0-
5 years of Canadian experience poses fewer challenges.

4) Significant supply pressures**
Difficulty across the board in recruiting qualified engineering staff in the local and regional labour
market. It is normal practice to actively solicit applications from outside the local and regional labour
market and to reimburse applicants for travel expenses related to interviews. Employers are generally
obliged to improve offered terms of compensation and to assist with re-location costs. Recruitment
difficulties lead many employers to increase their use of third-party recruiters and to increase their
outsourcing of engineering and technology work to consultancies or staff the assignment with
engineering workers from another region. There is a significant increase in the risk of project delays
and compensation-driven cost escalations.