An analysis of the Canadian information technology labour market

Applied information technology (IT) is credited with ushering in a new era - the information era - delivered by specialized information technology labour. In spite of industry reports of information technology labour market shortages over the past 15 years, some Canadian government reports give no evidence of an IT labour shortage now or in the near future. This paper examines these conflicting reports by discussing them in the context of labour economic theory. The results support the notion of a national IT labour shortage relative to the general Canadian labour market and they highlight deficiencies in IT labour market information. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.