A recent report, entitled Outlook for Human Resources in the ICT Labour Market, 2011-2016, states that there will be a labour shortage of qualified applicants for IT related jobs in Canada within the next few years. The report was released by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).

According to the report, over 106,000 IT related positions will become available between 2011 and 2016 in Canada; however there may not be enough people to fill those positions. The report has also indicated that the most shortages will occur for positions which require five or more years of experience.

In order to address the concerns regarding labour shortages, the report is suggesting five recommendations:

·         Post-secondary students should be encourages to take IT-related courses;

·         Foreign-education workers should be better integrated into Canada’s IT workforce;

·         Making post-secondary education more cross-disciplinary; and

·         Making the IT industry more accessible for various skill levels and diverse employees.

Another important suggestion made by the report is to bring more foreign skilled workers to Canada. The IT industry will be looking for skilled workers with many different skills, rather than a specific technical expertise.