If you’re hoping to get hired in the next six years, you might want to consider looking for a job in health care, transport or information services. Those industries top Fanshawe College’s just-released list of 15 jobs that the school projects to be be “in demand” between 2024 and 2031.
The school regularly updates its labour market projections using local and regional census data analyzed by market research company Lightcast, as well as checking in with local employers, professional organizations and regulatory bodies.
“The mandate of the college sector is to meet labour market needs in our local communities and throughout the province,” said Mary Harrison, the director of Fanshawe’s Centre for Academic Excellence. “That is really one of the core driving pieces of our operation and is very significant to student success.”
Harrison said the school uses the data to help inform decisions to develop and adjust courses and programs so that students can expect education and training that will equip them for the job market.
For example, in response to a need for professionals in an emerging area of information systems specialists — number four on the list — the college is developing a program called “Low code and no code” development.
Still in the works, that program is being developed “in response to labour market demand for that kind of programming,” said Harrison.
The top jobs on the list include nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, followed by registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, roles which Fanshawe offers programs through their School of Nursing and our School of Health Sciences.
According to Fanshawe’s projections, these occupations are expected to see growth of more than 20 per cent in the next seven years, or nearly 135,000 jobs across the country.
The need for drivers in the transport industry is set to increase by 13 per cent, which means there will be a need for more than 43,700 truck drivers by 2031.
Information systems specialists, or people who design, develop, test and install information technology systems, are part of a rapidly changing industry and are typically higher-paying jobs. Job growth in that sector is expected to climb by 14 per cent in the next seven years, adding some 32,000 positions in Canada.
Harrison said the mandate to ensure program offerings line up with market needs also considers their enrollment of international students.
“All of the programs that the college develops as well as all of our existing programs that we are constantly reviewing and with the goal to toward continuous quality improvement certainly examines labour market demand for any of the students that the college serves,” she said.
Fanshawe has reported that about 68 per cent of their graduates find work in their related field of study, which is in line with the provincial average of 69 per cent at colleges across Ontario.
Here are the top 15 in-demand jobs projected to 2031:
- Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
- Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
- Transport truck drivers
- Information systems specialists
- Retail sales supervisors
- Light duty cleaners
- Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations
- Administrative officers
- Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations
- Store shelf stockers, clerks and order fillers
- Early childhood educators and assistants
- Elementary school and kindergarten teachers
- Material handlers
- Food and beverage servers
- Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators
For more on the top jobs, related programs at Fanshawe College, and a tool to find out what jobs might line up with your interests, visit the college’s website.
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