• The share of Canadian job postings mentioning generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has steadily risen since early 2023. GenAI-related terms were found in 1.7 per thousand postings at the end of May 2024, with more than half of those postings being for science and technology occupations.
  • Toronto is the main centre of GenAI-related jobs in Canada, where the technology was mentioned in 3 per thousand postings in May, while Vancouver and Calgary also stood out. 
  • Toronto ranked seventh across North American metro areas in terms of the share of the metro’s job postings mentioning GenAI, slightly higher than the New York City and Washington, D.C., metros, but far behind the San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle areas. 
  • The high concentration of GenAI jobs in major tech hubs likely reflects more where employers in the sector are based, rather than location requirements for prospective candidates. More than half (58%) of postings mentioning GenAI in their job descriptions also included mentions of remote or hybrid work, compared to 44% among science and technology postings, and 14% among overall Canadian postings. 

Job postings involving generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) represent a small but rapidly growing segment of the Canadian labour market. At the end of May 2024, 0.17% of Canadian job postings on Indeed included terms related to GenAI — including “ChatGPT,” and “large language models” etc. — in their job descriptions. The rise began from near-zero at the start of 2023 and has shown little signs of cooling in recent months, as just 0.11% of job postings in early January 2024 mentioned these GenAI-related terms. 

Line chart titled “GenAI mentioned in a small but growing share of postings” shows the share of Canadian job postings including terms related to generative AI in their job descriptions, between January 2023 and May 2024. The share has increased steadily from nearly zero to 0.17% of postings. 
Line chart titled “GenAI mentioned in a small but growing share of postings” shows the share of Canadian job postings including terms related to generative AI in their job descriptions, between January 2023 and May 2024. The share has increased steadily from nearly zero to 0.17% of postings. 

Postings associated with GenAI are mainly for jobs in science and technology. These occupations accounted for 59% of all Canadian postings mentioning GenAI in May 2024, even though they represented just 6% of total job postings nationwide. Meanwhile, mentions of GenAI were relatively rare elsewhere, with a few exceptions like postings for content writers and marketers. This suggests many job postings mentioning GenAI are for positions involving the ongoing development of the technology itself, rather than jobs where GenAI can be used as a tool, which are widespread across the labour market. 

Bar chart titled “Postings mentioning GenAI are mainly for STEM jobs” shows the share of GenAI job postings that are for occupations in technology, science, and mathematics, compared to other occupations, as well as the share of total job postings in these occupations compared to the rest of the economy. Science, tech, and mathematics postings account for 59% of GenAI postings, well above their overall 6% share of total postings.  
Bar chart titled “Postings mentioning GenAI are mainly for STEM jobs” shows the share of GenAI job postings that are for occupations in technology, science, and mathematics, compared to other occupations, as well as the share of total job postings in these occupations compared to the rest of the economy. Science, tech, and mathematics postings account for 59% of GenAI postings, well above their overall 6% share of total postings.  

Toronto, Canada’s GenAI hub, ranks well against US metros, except on the West Coast

The high concentration of GenAI-related postings in the tech sector is also apparent in their geographic location. Toronto stands out as Canada’s leader in GenAI jobs, where they accounted for 0.3% of postings in May. This share was above the near 0.2% of postings in Vancouver and Calgary, which rounded out the top three Canadian GenAI centres. Despite their reputations as tech hubs, Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge and Montreal ranked somewhat lower, while GenAI postings elsewhere in Canada were quite rare. 

Row bar chart titled “Toronto stands out as Canada’s centre for GenAI jobs” shows the share of May 2024 metro area job postings for select Canadian metros. Toronto had the highest share of its postings mentioning GenAI, followed by Vancouver and Calgary. 
Row bar chart titled “Toronto stands out as Canada’s centre for GenAI jobs” shows the share of May 2024 metro area job postings for select Canadian metros. Toronto had the highest share of its postings mentioning GenAI, followed by Vancouver and Calgary. 

GenAI’s presence in Toronto’s labour market also ranks high when compared to most US metro areas. Among all North American metros analyzed, Canada’s largest city had the seventh highest share of its postings explicitly mentioning GenAI, above New York City and Washington, D.C., (though the latter two have more total GenAI postings due to their greater number of total postings). However, Toronto stands closer to the rest of the pack compared to the main North American GenAI hubs on the US West Coast, particularly San Jose, Seattle, and San Francisco. 

Row bar chart titled “West Coast US leads North American GenAI jobs” shows the share of May 2024 metro area job postings for North American metros. The Bay area and Seattle regions stand out as the metros with the highest shares of their postings mentioning GenAI, while Toronto ranks seventh in North America, somewhat higher than New York and Washington, D.C., metro areas. 
Row bar chart titled “West Coast US leads North American GenAI jobs” shows the share of May 2024 metro area job postings for North American metros. The Bay area and Seattle regions stand out as the metros with the highest shares of their postings mentioning GenAI, while Toronto ranks seventh in North America, somewhat higher than New York and Washington, D.C., metro areas. 

Remote work opens up the geography of GenAI jobs

The high concentration of GenAI jobs in major cities might be discouraging for those living elsewhere who are interested in these positions. However, for people with the right skills, employers in the sector appear quite open to finding candidates across the country. In May, 58% of Canadian GenAI-related job postings mentioned some form of remote or hybrid work, 4-times higher than the 14% economy-wide average, and higher than the 44% remote share among science and tech jobs more broadly. 

Instead, the location of GenAI postings in major tech hubs more likely reflects where companies in the sector are situated, rather than specific requirements for job seekers. With the sector still in its infancy, casting as wide a net as possible in the candidate search appears paramount for companies looking for workers. This motivation is likely an important source of GenAI postings in Canada in the first place — several companies with the most GenAI postings in Canada are in fact headquartered in the US, including several tech giants and other companies in finance and legal industries applying GenAI to new areas of the economy. 

Conclusion

It’s still early days for GenAI’s presence in the Canadian labour market and economy, and job postings mentioning the technology remain a small corner of the overall labour market. Nonetheless, the share has continued to grow steadily since it arrived on the scene just a year and a half ago. GenAI’s posting presence in certain Canadian cities, particularly Toronto, but also Vancouver and Calgary, also compares well to most US metros except for the Bay Area and Seattle, which are far ahead of the rest. Given the prevalence of remote work, as well as US-based companies hiring in Canada, the GenAI sector is evolving as a broader North American labour market, presenting opportunities for Canadians across the country to contribute to its development. 

Methodology

The analysis involved extracting job postings directly related to Generative AI, using specific keywords found in job descriptions indicating its presence, such as “Generative AI,” “Large Language Models,” and “Chat GPT.”