Occupational Demand (Outlook)

This page talks about the best job opportunities from 2024 to 2026 period. 

This page provides a summary of Service Canada’s 2024 to 2026 occupational employment scenario. 

Jobs are grouped by broad occupational category. Some key highlights are:

  • There could be around 62,250 job openings during the forecast period.
  • There are a lot more job opportunities this year compared to last year due to higher estimates for job growth. Attrition, or the number of people leaving their jobs, is about the same as last year.
  • Opportunities are expected to be split evenly between Halifax and the rest of the province.
  • Outside of Halifax, attrition will account for a larger share of openings because a larger share of the workforce is closer to retirement age and job growth is slower.

In the 2024-2026 forecast scenario, employment prospect calls were produced for 333 out of 516 occupations comprising 96.2% of provincial employment. 

  • Of these, 146 occupations were assigned a Good or Very Good call, meaning it is likely that someone looking for a job will have a good chance of finding work.
  • Another 174 occupations received a Moderate assessment, indicating an average level of labour demand. These occupations account for 32.6% of total employment in the province.
  • A Limited call was assigned to 12 occupations comprising 1.8% of provincial employment, while just one occupation had a Very Limited call.

An Undetermined rating was assigned to 183 occupations, representing 3.8% of employment. Insufficient data, most often due to low employment, is the primarily reason prohibiting an assessment for these occupations..

1 - Business, Finance and Administration

In Nova Scotia, jobs in business, finance, and administration are the third most common type of job, with 76,900 people working in these roles. That’s about 16% of all jobs. A below average rate of job opportunities is expected, generating just under 9,300 opportunities during the 2024-2026 period.

Growth is projected to be somewhat below average, so attrition will generate more than half of opportunities in this category. Most job opportunities will require a college diploma, apprenticeship, or university degree.

Below are the in-demand business, finance and administration occupations:

Good:

2 - Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

In Nova Scotia, there were about 37,300 jobs in these fields, making up about 7.7% of all jobs in the province. This occupational category has the highest rate of total job opportunities through 2026, at 4.9% per year. However, due to the category’s smaller size, this rate is expected to yield 6,155 opportunities.

A lot of the jobs in this group are linked to the fast-growing Information Technology (IT) sector — this category is expected to have the highest rate of growth, at 3.2%. More than two-thirds of opportunities are expected to require a university degree, reflecting the relatively high educational requirements for most of this category’s constituent occupations

While information systems specialists is considerably smaller than the other top occupations, it is expected to product more than 900 opportunities through 2026 due to an exceptionally high growth rate. This occupation, along with other smaller occupations tied to the IT sector, have experienced considerable growth during the past several years.

Below are the in-demand engineering, math, science, and information technology occupations:

Very Good:

Good:

3 - Health

In Nova Scotia, 49,600 were working in health-related jobs, which is about 10.3% of all the jobs in the province. It is expected that there will be over 6,650 job opportunities in these fields during the forecast period. An above-average rate of growth is expected, driven by expanding demand for health services as the large baby boomer generation ages into their 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Opportunities are expected to be well-distributed across occupations requiring a variety of post-secondary education levels. 

The two largest health occupations in the province are expected to give rise to the second- and third-largest numbers of job opportunities overall. Driven by a growth rate well above average (2.7%), nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates—in which the most common job title in Nova Scotia is continuing care assistant (CCA)—is projected to create more than 1,800 opportunities as the number of Nova Scotians in need of long-term care continues to increase. 

Further, just under 1,400 opportunities are expected in the registered nurse occupation. These two occupations are almost the same size and are subject to many of the same demographic demand pressures on the health care system. However, rates of job growth and attrition among RNs are expected to be moderately lower than among CCAs.

Below are the in-demand health occupations:

Very Good:

Good:

4 - Education, Law, Government, Social and Community Services

In Nova Scotia, 60,400 people were working in jobs related to education, law and social, community, and government services. This makes up about 12.5% of all the jobs in the province. Approximately 7,500 opportunities are forecasted to occur in this occupational category through 2026.

Occupations in this category consist of a diverse range of fields, though several of the largest occupations relate to elementary and secondary education and childcare. Demand in these areas has grown due to the rising number of school enrolments, and the introduction of the Canada – Nova Scotia Canada- Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. More than half of opportunities will require a university degree.

Elementary school and kindergarten teachers is included on the list of top occupations by job opportunities for the first time this year. This occupation is one of the largest in the province, but opportunities arising from growth have historically been limited due to a long trend of declining elementary school enrolment. However, a recent upswing in enrolment has contributed to space and staffing pressures in schools and prompted stronger growth projection for this forecast period. In response to shortages of teachers, the provincial government has announced a reduction of the number of years of post-secondary education required for admission to Bachelor of Education programs.

Below are the in-demand education, law, and social, community, and government services occupations:

Very Good:

Good:

5- Art, Culture, Recreation, and Sport

This category has the fewest jobs compared to other types of work, with only 13,500 people employed in these roles, which is about 2.8% of all jobs. As such, they are expected to provide just under 2,000 opportunities during the projection period.

Occupations in this group—along with the opportunities associated with them—are diverse in nature and distributed evenly across most education levels. High rates of self-employment in many occupations mean that opportunities may not present themselves in the form of typical job postings.

Below are the in-demand art, culture, recreation, and sports occupations:

Very Good:

Good:

6 - Sales and Service

Sales and service jobs are the largest group of jobs by a wide margin. Over a quarter of jobs (26.4%) fall into this category, which is about 127,800 people. Because of this, it is expected to have the most job openings during the forecast period, with about 16,250 opportunities. 

Nearly three in five opportunities are expected to occur in occupations requiring a high school diploma or less, reflecting the low educational requirements in some of the province’s largest occupations.

Sales and service occupations account for six of the top 10 occupations by number of projected opportunities during the 2024 to 2026 period. These are expected to be led by retail salespersons and visual merchandisers, due primarily to its status as the largest occupation in the province by employment. Of the five other listed occupations in the sales and service broad category, four relate to retail sales, while the remaining one is associated with the food services sector: food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations. 

Below are the in-demand sales and service occupations:

Very Good:

Good:

7 - Trades and Transportation

This category is the second-largest group of jobs, with 81,600 workers. Over the next few years, it is expected to offer more than 10,185 openings. 

Many of the larger occupations in this category have been characterized by labour and skill shortages in recent years, particularly those associated with the construction industry.

Below are the in-demand trades and transportation occupations:

Good:

8 - Farming, Fishing, Forestry, and Mining

This category has the second-fewest number of jobs, with about 15,600 workers. It is expected to offer around 1,250 opportunities.

The low rate of job opportunities is due to a forecasted growth rate of just 0.2% per year. In Nova Scotia, employment among these occupations is primarily in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries, which are expected to have limited or negative growth in demand for labour.

Below are the in-demand farming, fishing, forestry, and mining occupations:

Good:

9 - Manufacturing and Utilities

In the manufacturing and utilities sector, there are about 20,000 workers, which is around 4.1% of all the jobs. It is expected to have about 2,570 job openings over the next few years. Attrition is expected to give rise to two-thirds of these opportunities.

One-half of opportunities are expected to be in occupations requiring high school, with a further quarter in supervisory roles or roles requiring college or apprenticeship, reflecting the tendency for positions in this category to be concentrated in machine operator or supervisory type positions, respectively.

Below are the in-demand manufacturing and utilities occupations:

Good:

Source: Service Canada Occupational Outlook, 2024-2026

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