A group of Black STEM students at school

The State of Black Canadians in STEM

The State of Black Canadians in STEM

Canada could be missing over 33,000 Black tech workers by 2024 and it’s not because of supply

BPTN compared the findings of the 2019 tech worker report by the Brookfield Institute with the Black population counts from the 2016 census and found that in 2016 there was a gap of 8,725 Black tech workers in Canada. Our study further shows that, based on projected growth rates in the tech sector, this gap could grow as large as 33,644 by 2024 if we do nothing.

The underrepresentation of Black tech workers is hurting Canada economically. While there are regular reports of a shortage of qualified tech workers to support one of the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, we see a situation where Black talent continues to be underutilized relative to their presence in the population. As Canada positions itself as a global hub of tech innovation, we will need to create an environment that nurtures and encourages our local Black talent, from kindergarten to university, to pursue careers in STEM. We will also need to ensure that Black Canadians find opportunities within our economy.

If left unresolved, this lack of representative inclusion will lead to even further marginalization of our Black communities and will cost the Canadian economy. We estimate that the economic impact of lost wages for missing Black tech workers would represent about $1.4B annually by 2024. This is a conservative estimate using average tech sector wages relative to those outside the sector in 2016. Sustained strong wage growth in the sector means that this is likely substantially higher today.

Canadian tech sector growth projections show that annual demand for workers is in the range of 57,700 annually. At representative levels, Black tech workers should make up about 2,450 of those hires. The good news is that between local graduation and immigration, we see about 10,700 STEM-qualified Black workers entering the Canadian economy each year. So annual supply is 4.3 times what is required to meet representative annual growth and provides an opportunity to close the historical sector gaps as well. There is no shortage of Black tech talent in Canada.

Based on data from Statistics Canada and CIC News, the annual supply is comprised of about 8,600  immigrants from Black majority regions with STEM qualifications and about 2,100 local-born Black STEM post-secondary graduates. Immigration accounts for 80% of the annual Black STEM qualified labour supply. But first-