Ontario will need 60,000 more university graduates over the next decade in the key areas of science/technology, health care and business, says a new report to be released Thursday.
Overall, Ontario needs more than one million university grads to meet labour market needs by 2035 — meaning the current 85,000 a year will need to hit an annual average of 100,500, says the analysis from Stokes Economics that was commissioned by the Council of Ontario Universities.
The biggest need is in STEM (science/technology/engineering/math), followed by doctors, nurses and other health professionals, as well as business/finance. The province also requires additional graduates in education, law and social/community services, management occupations, and arts/culture and recreation.
“We’re now needing a million graduates (by 2035), so we need to find out where the acute shortages are,” said Steve Orsini, president and CEO of the universities council, which will officially release the report on Thursday and track progress in the coming years.
“It’s material in a world where we need top talent to run innovation and change to adopt the latest technology,” he added. “Those shortfalls undermine our economic growth and prosperity.”
The council says the demand “reflects job openings in occupations where a university education is typically required or preferred and underscores the growing need for highly skilled talent across the province’s economy,” and the forecast accounted not just for workforce growth but also retirements as well as the impact of technology and artificial intelligence.
The report comes as the Ford government has added 70,000 additional spaces to colleges and universities. Some of those are accounted for in the analysis; schools are currently working with local businesses to pitch proposals for the remaining 40,000 that will be created over the next four years, some as early as this fall.
“We are expanding the programs students want, to build the workforce Ontario needs,” Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said last month in announcing the new spots that will focus on STEM, health care, teaching and the trades.
It’s all part of a $6.4 billion boost for the post-secondary sector over the next four years announced in February, before the province’s spring budget.
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations has been urging the Ford government to provide funding for a wider variety of programs, and the new report notes that arts/culture/recreation and sport, along with “other” jobs, are also going to need university-trained employees.
“All university degree programs are designed to benefit communities and the economy,” president Rob Kristofferson has said.
