Research
Environmental Job Market Trends
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.
Environmental Job Market Trends (July to September 2021)
Release Date: February 2022
The JPA relies on external vendors for job postings and is updated as new data sources are incorporated each quarter. As we make updates, we enhance our methodology and streamline reporting to reflect labour market trends accurately.
A Gradual Return to Job Market Stability
Environmental job postings (enviro ads) levelled off relative to April to June 2021 (Q2), which had the highest environmental job postings since the start of 2018. From July to September 2021 (Q3), close to 52,300 positions were posted for environmental workers out of the nearly 871,000 total jobs advertised in Canada. Compared to the number of job postings in Q2 2021, total job postings in the third quarter of last year dropped by just over 9%, while job ads in the environmental sector decreased 22%.
Despite this reduction of enviro ads, the frequency of postings continues to surpass the number of ads observed in the environmental job market since the start of the pandemic. Further, Canada’s EnviroShare (proportion of enviro ads to total job ads) has increased from 3.7% in Q3 2020 to 6.3% in Q3 2021 (+2.6 percentage points).
*Interactive Spotlight Report may take a moment to load
Employers posted fewer enviro ads in Q3 2021 across all provinces and territories except Nunavut, where environmental recruitment increased by 13% compared to April through June 2021. Prince Edward Island experienced the largest downswing with a decrease of 36%, followed by New Brunswick (↓ 35%) and Manitoba (↓ 33%).
The EnviroShare for British Columbia, Alberta, and the territories exceeded the national average. Northwest Territories had the highest EnviroShare at 16.7%, while Manitoba had the lowest at 3.9%. The only region with a larger EnviroShare was Nunavut, which increased from 10.7% in Q2 to 12.4% in Q3 (+1.7 percentage points).
Across the country, Civil engineers, Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety, and Professional occupations in business management consulting had the largest number of enviro ads between July and September 2021, with approximately 3,350, 2,100, and 1,580 job postings, respectively. Occupations with the highest EnviroShare were Forestry professionals (92.5%), Water and waste treatment plant operators (88.6%), and Meteorologists and climatologists (84.9%).
Similar to previous quarters, Professional, scientific and technical services continues to lead other industries with more than 14,620 enviro ads, accounting for 28% of all environmental postings. The second and third largest industries were Manufacturing (4,620 enviro ads) and Health care and social assistance (4,210 enviro ads), comprising 9% and 8% of environmental postings, respectively.
Sustainability, Natural Resource Management, and Environmental Health & Safety were the largest specializations by enviro ads. Environmental Health & Safety held onto its third-place ranking over Energy. It first overtook this specialization mid-2021, clocking in with 20,295 positions for environmental workers.
Positive Long-term Trends
The downward trend observed in the third quarter of last year is expected to be temporary as the job market gradually stabilizes following the surge of postings across the environmental sector during the first half of 2021. Although provincial health restrictions continue across Canada, the initial collapse across the environmental workforce in early 2020 has been counteracted by a period of substantial recruitment throughout 2021.
While this quarter’s enviro ads are down 22% from the previous, they are up 43% from Q3 2020 and 27% from Q3 2019. Further, all provinces except for New Brunswick reported higher counts in 2021 following a profound decline in enviro ads caused by the pandemic. As a result, it appears that the environmental sector has started to bounce back with an upward trajectory in the long term, despite the negative impacts of COVID-19.
*Interactive Trends Report may take a moment to load
Even though Canada’s four largest provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta) each had fewer enviro ads in Q3 2021 than in Q2 2021, the year-over-year trend in each province was positive.
Relative to the third quarter in 2020, the number of enviro ads increased by 5,690 (Ontario), 4,540 (British Columbia), 1,330 (Quebec), and 1,980 (Alberta). This fluctuation in enviro ads is a result of the very large spike experienced across the environmental sector last quarter, which signalled a rebound from the period of job market uncertainty early in the pandemic.
Similar to the regional trends, enviro ads by occupation demonstrate a notable decrease compared to April to June 2021 and a positive trend when compared to the same period in 2020. Enviro ads increased from 2020 Q3 to 2021 Q3 in Natural and applied sciences and related occupations, Management occupations and Business, finance and administration occupations by 5,580, 3,320, and 2,460 enviro ads, respectively. Natural and applied sciences and related occupations had the largest fluctuation in enviro ads with a decrease of 27% since Q2 2021 and an increase of 44% since Q3 2020.
While enviro ads in most industries remained relatively stable from Q2 2021 to Q3 2021 and have demonstrated a significant improvement since Q3 2020, Professional scientific and technical services had 15,320 fewer environmental job postings (-51%) from July to September 2021. However, all other industries had a net positive change from the previous quarter of just under 430 enviro ads.
Across all specializations, environmental job postings decreased from Q2 2021 to Q3 2021. However, enviro ads in Q3 2021 were approximately equal to or only slightly below Q1 2021 – the first quarter that signalled the start of the job market rebound. Sustainability held its position as the largest specialization in Q3 2021 with 24,870 enviro ads.
What can Canadians Expect?
Forecasts for the upcoming year suggest that Canada’s GDP will reach pre-pandemic levels for the first time since the initial economic shutdown in March 2020. The Business Development Bank of Canada’s 2022 outlook points to another year of gradual economic recovery across the country, with a strong emphasis on labour shortages that are projected to persist in sectors that rely heavily on human capital. This may be a cause for concern for environmental goods and services organizations if the labour supply remains low over time.
The federal government has reemphasized their commitment to reduce methane emissions by 2030 and plans to implement new measures to ensure targets are met. One such action involves the strengthening of the Emissions Reduction Fund to improve existing projects and increase support to meet Canada’s goal.
Additional concerns have been voiced by financial institutions for 2022 regarding Canada’s climate goals and whether firms would be capable of adhering to targets set by the government. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) highlighted ongoing challenges firms face with rising debt levels, supply chain challenges, labour shortages, and the willingness of customers to pay higher prices for greener alternatives in their 2022 economic outlook. These factors have been cited as potential drags on green investment presently and in the foreseeable future.
Comments & 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.
We welcome comments and discussion of all our LMI reports. Contact research@eco.ca.
Funded by Natural Resources Canada.
The opinions and interpretations in this publication are ECO Canada’s and do not necessarily reflect those held by the Government of Canada.
Our 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.
- Environmental Jobs and Influence on Industry (2020)
- Environmental Job Market Trends (2018)
- Environmental Jobs Within Industries (2018)
- Environmental Jobs Market Trends (mid-2018)
- Environmental Job Market Trends (2014-2017)
- Environmental Job Posting Trends (2013-2016)
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.
- Updated: Environmental Labour Demand Outlook to 2025 (2021)
- Environmental Labour Demand Outlook (2020)
- Environmental Labour Supply Outlook (2020)
- Profile of Canadian Environmental Employment (2017)
Our complete report collection is available at eco.ca/labour-market-research/our-reports/.
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.
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.
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.
