Toronto recognized as one of the best cities for IT professionals
What other cities in Canada are doing "brain gain"?
Toronto ranked fourth in the annual ranking of the 50 North American cities popular among IT professionals, and first in Canada. So says a CBRE study published by leading commercial real estate firm Scoring Tech Talent for 2021.
CBRE's director of research for Canada, Mark Meehan, noted that Toronto's lead could be called predictable: "It shouldn't have come as a surprise, given how much Toronto depends on international immigration."
To measure the depth, viability and attractiveness of each individual market for technology employers and potential employees, CBRE used 13 indicators, including: talent availability, quality of workforce and gross operating costs.
Toronto is recognized as the best city in Canada for information technology (IT) jobs for a reason: during the last 5 years 81 200 IT jobs were created in the megalopolis, 26 338 scientific degrees were awarded to Toronto researchers, and 54 862 new technical specialists moved to Toronto from different parts of the world to work.
What other cities in Canada can attract IT professionals?
Besides Toronto, foreign professionals looking to relocate to Canada as IT professionals should consider cities such as Ottawa (10th), Vancouver (11th), Montreal (16th), Waterloo Region (21st), Calgary (28th), Quebec City (34th) and Edmonton (38th).
"These cities have the strongest combination of characteristics necessary for the technology sector to thrive, including a high concentration of IT jobs, and this is most important," the report said.
There are many programs for highly skilled technical workers to relocate to Canada, including:
1. Global Talent Stream (GTS) — allows highly skilled individuals to obtain a work permit in Canada through an expedited process.
2. Canadian Experience Class (CES) — immigration under the federal program for those already working in Canada.
3. Federal Skilled Worker is a federal program for highly qualified individuals.
How are things in smaller towns?
"Larger markets have an advantage, and this is reflected in the site selection processes of many Canadian tech companies, but that's not all» — Mark Meehan noted.
Small cities, as a rule, do not get into the top 50 because of the special ranking criteria established by technology companies for megacities and large cities. However, these cities were not left out either.
For example, the Waterloo region, which ranked first out of 25 emerging cities last year, has made it into the top 50 this year. Halifax is expected to follow suit in the near future, having risen 24% in the past year.
