Polygon Created with Sketch. Home | Research

Bracing for Automation: What Are Canada’s Most Vulnerable Jobs?

Rapid technological change makes it more critical than ever that Canadian leaders understand how the adoption of new technologies impacts Canada’s labour markets. This briefing looks at which occupations have a higher risk of significant transformation and offer few options for workers to transition into lower-risk occupations.

Industrial laboror using a panel

Highlights

  • Nearly one in five Canadian employees are in occupations at high risk of automation with few or no options to transition into lower-risk occupations without significant retraining.
  • The top five industries in which these occupations are most concentrated are accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail trade, construction, and health care and social assistance
  • Based on total number of people employed, the top five occupations of this type in Canada are food counter attendants, kitchen helpers, and related; cashiers; administrative assistants; general office support workers; and cooks.
  • Indigenous people, women, young people, and visible minorities are disproportionately represented in most of the top occupations.

Related Content

Young woman with laptop and guy with tablet surrounding their colleague making presentation of new software product at meeting
Research

The Skills Mirror: An Analysis of Trends, Tensions, and Opportunities of Proposed Projects to FSC

In late 2024, the Future Skills Centre received nearly 900 proposals across multiple funding calls. These proposals offer a unique, system-wide view into Canada’s skills development ecosystem. In partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team, this project analyzed the proposal database to surface shared priorities, emerging challenges, and common approaches to labour market innovation.
woman looks at a group of people as she speaks to them
Research

Reimagining Career Services

RCS set out to test new models for career and employment services that respond to the needs of workers, employers, and practitioners in a rapidly changing labour market. Rather than a single intervention, RCS operates as a portfolio of innovation projects co-designed with service partners and piloted in real-world settings.
Research

National Survey on Skill Demands and Employment Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Our research draws on first-hand experiences to better understand specific labour-related challenges facing SMEs.
View all Research