AI labour market demand: steady expansion followed by a slow down
The demand for AI professionals in Canada experienced a steady increase from 2018 to 2021, with AI-related job postings reaching their peak in Q4 2021, with a slowdown in the demand of these postings from Q1 2022 onwards. The demand for professionals with these skills remains below 1% of total online job posting, highlighting the fact that AI jobs, while growing, remain a niche within Canada’s labour market.
Several factors may have contributed to the slowdown in the pace of the demand. While economic uncertainty in 2022 and 2023 led to a reduction in hiring across multiple sectors, including technology and professional services, many large companies also shifted their focus toward internal workforce development, prioritising the retraining of existing employees rather than recruiting new AI specialists. The hiring of new graduates with AI skills has also slowed, with many firms now seeking experienced professionals rather than entry-level hires.
Despite these trends, AI-related employment is expected to grow in the long term, particularly as automation and AI adoption continue to transform industries. Consequently, a key challenge for Canada is ensuring that AI talent development keeps pace with evolving industry needs, preventing skill shortages from becoming a bottleneck to AI adoption.
Key industries seeking to hire AI talent in Canada
The labour market demand for AI professionals in Canada is highly concentrated within a few industry sectors, with eight out of 102 NAICS 3-digit sectors accounting for nearly 70% of the total demand for AI-related professionals between 2018 and 2023. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector remains the largest employer seeking to hire AI professionals, contributing to nearly 30% of AI job postings. Other industries that have shown strong AI demand include financial services, manufacturing and publishing.
Although AI jobs remain a small percentage of total employment demand within each sector, certain industries are beginning to integrate AI more deeply into their operations. In publishing and computer & electronic product manufacturing, AI-related roles accounted for 2.5% and 3% of total job postings, respectively, making them some of the most AI-reliant sectors. AI-driven automation is also expanding into traditionally non-tech industries, such as chemical manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, where AI is being used for drug development, quality control, and production optimisation.
These industry shifts suggest that while AI hiring has slowed in some areas, its long-term integration into a broader range of industries is still progressing. Businesses that once relied on AI only for research and development are now exploring practical applications of AI to enhance efficiency and decision-making.
The most in-demand AI occupations in Canada
Among AI-related occupations, data scientists account for 20% of all AI-related job postings, making it the most in-demand AI profession. Other key roles include software developers, software engineers, database analysts, and computer engineers, who collectively make up approximately 45% of AI-related job postings.
Interestingly, the demand for AI skills remains highly concentrated within a small number of job titles. Even within high-tech roles, fewer than 10% of job postings require AI expertise, except for data scientists, where 30-35% of job postings specifically mention AI skills. This suggests that while AI is growing in importance, it has yet to become a widespread requirement across most occupations.
Which AI skills are the most sought after?
Employers seeking AI talent are primarily looking for machine learning (ML) expertise, which is the most commonly requested AI skill across job postings. Other key AI specialisations include neural networks, natural language processing (NLP), robotics, and visual image recognition.
The increasing demand for NLP and AI-driven automation reflects the expansion of AI applications in fields such as customer service, finance, and healthcare. Meanwhile, robotics and autonomous systems remain smaller but growing fields, with applications in manufacturing, logistics, and autonomous vehicles.
Despite recent developments in AI, the relative share of AI skill demand within each occupation has remained stable, indicating that the fundamental requirements for AI jobs have not drastically changed over time.
What’s next for AI jobs in Canada?
Policies can help foster AI talent in Canada through flexible academic pathways, stronger collaboration between employers and education providers, and better AI training programs integrated into industry-specific sectors. Producing timely and detailed data to track AI skills demand in Canada to inform the type and scale of education and training needs will also help to ensure that education matches the demand for AI professionals. As AI adoption accelerates, the ability to train and retain AI talent will be a critical determinant of economic success.
For in-depth analysis of the demand for talent proficient in developing or working with AI systems in Canada, consult the latest OECD working paper on AI skills and capabilities in Canada.
Interested in other research on AI jobs? Our LinkedIn data on OECD.AI shows trends in AI skills migration, penetration, talent concentration, hiring, career transitions and more.
