Job prospects Human Resources Specialist in Ontario

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "human resources specialist" in Ontario or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Ontario

These outlooks were updated on November 29, 2023.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Human resources professionals (NOC 11200) in Ontario for the 2023-2025 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
• A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What Types of Employers Are Out There

• All major industry categories, but the leading shares are employed in:
  • Public administration, mostly federal government departments
  • Professional, scientific and technical services, in particular management consulting firms

What are the Main Trends Affecting Employment

• Generally, the need to recruit and retain a highly skilled workforce for business continuity
• Opportunities to support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
• Outsourcing some roles to external human resources consultancy firms has become common, and could moderate in-house job growth in some companies

What Skills Do I Need To Succeed

• In addition to other formal education, a professional designation such as Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) is often considered an asset in securing employment.

Here are some key facts about Human resources professionals in Ontario:

• Approximately 56,400 people work in this occupation.
• Human resources professionals mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Federal government public administration (NAICS 911): 12%
  • Other professional, scientific and technical services (NAICS 5414, 5416-5419): 9%
  • Monetary Authorities - central bank and securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation and related activities (NAICS 521, 522, 523): 7%
  • Management and administrative services (NAICS 55, 56): 7%
  • Religious, grant-making, civic, and professional and similar organizations (NAICS 813): 7%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 94% compared to 81% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 6% compared to 19% for all occupations
• 80% of human resources professionals work all year, while 20% work only part of the year, compared to 63% and 37% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 47 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 25% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 75% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 9% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 10% compared to 25% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: less than 5% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 20% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 48% compared to 24% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 18% compared to 13% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Ontario by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Job prospects elsewhere in Canada

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "human resources specialist" Human resources professionals (NOC 11200) or across Canada.

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