Business and higher education sectors increase ranks of R&D personnel

The private sector is the main driver behind increases in Canadian R&D personnel, more than doubling the number of positions between 1991 and 2000 and adding new positions for every year but one. The only other sector to increase its numbers during the same period is the higher education, which posted a modest 16.7% increase over 10 years. All other sectors posted decreases (see chart).

In 2000, Canada employed 156,200 R&D personnel, a 4.4% increase over the previous year. During the same period, R&D spending rose 12% with the difference attributed to increases in the cost of conducting R&D.

The dominance of the private sector has likely diminished in the years subsequent to the reporting period of the Statistics Canada survey. Since that time, high-tech has been dealt a series of punishing blows, with many of Canada’s largest R&D performer – Nortel Networks Corp, JDS-Uniphase – shedding thousands of positions. Simultaneously, billions of public dollars have been poured into post-secondary research requiring many new researchers to conduct an increased volume of work.

Research personnel comprise 66% of the 2000 total, accounting for 102,630 positions. Between 1991 and 2000, the number of researchers has actually increased at at average annual growth rate of 4.8%. More than 80% of researchers were employed in jobs related to the natural sciences and engineering (NSE), with the remainder employed in the social sciences and humanities (SSH).

There were 34,000 technicians in 2000. That number has been relatively stable since 1996 after growing over the previous five years to a high of 35,560 in 1995. Al were employed in the NSE.

Support workers round out R&D personnel, with 19,570 employed in 2000. That number has remained remarkably stable over the past 10 years. Nearly 80% are employed in the NSE.

INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN

Within industry, researchers account for 60,530 or 65.6% of total of 92,280. That’s a 7.0% increase over 1999 and a doubling since 1991. In 2000, industry employed 22,620 technicians and 9,620 support staff. Both categories have increased moderately over the same 10-year time frame.

Within the higher education sector, R&D personnel are more evenly split between NSE and SSH. In 2000, NSE disciplines employed 24,230 or 53.6 of the total of 45,190. That tally includes 17,080 researchers and 6,290 support staff. In SSH disciplines, there were 20,960 engaged in R&D. Researchers accounted for 16,960 and technicians totalled 4,000. In the federal government, 14,120 or 96% of the 14,710 total are working in NSE fields. Of that number, 5,840 are researchers, up marginally from the year before but well below the 1993 high of 6,380.

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