Industry sheds nearly one in 10 R&D jobs in 2012 while higher education posted increase

The number of industry R&D personnel declined by 13,440 or 9.2% between 2011 and 2012 - the second largest drop since 2008-2009 when 17,560 jobs were shed. In the years between 2008 and 2012, 40,580 industrial R&D jobs have vanished for a 23.5% decline (see chart). The latest year-over-year drop is particularly alarming because - unlike the decline experienced during the 2008-09 recession - the shrinkage in Canada's R&D workforce was not triggered by a slump in the national economy.

Researchers in industry were particularly hard hit in 2012, with more 8,000 job losses, compared to 6340 fewer technicians (a drop of 4%). There was an increase of about 1000 support staff or 2.6%.

Industry accounted for 59% of all R&D?jobs in Canada in 2012 - the lowest level in a more than a decade. Higher education accounts for 31.8%, followed by the federal government (7.3%), provincial governments (1.2%) and the private non-profit sector (0.6%).

Industry wasn't the only sector experiencing job losses, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. There were fewer R&D personnel of all types in the federal and provincial governments in 2012, while the private non-profit and higher education sectors showed modest increases.

The new data are certain to stimulate debate about the training and deployment of skilled talent. With so many federal and provincial programs devoted to generating skilled personnel, many will question whether there's enough demand to adsorb them while others will argue that more talent is required to boost output and productivity.

The StatsCan release also contained international comparisons derived from data generated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It shows that Finland has the highest number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers at 16.1 per 1000 total employment, followed by Denmark at 13.6. Both Canada and the US have 8.8 per 1000.

Ontario is home to the country's largest concentration of R&D personnel with 99,000 FTE or 44.6% of the total. Quebec places second with 63,970 or 29.55, and British Columbia accounted for 23,580 or 10.5% All provinces registered declines with the exception of Prince Edwards Island which saw an increase and Saskatchewan, which registered no change.

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