Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account: Human Resource Module, 2024
Released: 2026-05-29
Employment in the environmental and clean technology products sector rises for fourth straight year
Environmental and clean technology (ECT) activity generated 363,094 employee jobs in the Canadian economy in 2024, up for the fourth consecutive year (+22.4% from 2020). The four-year job growth rate of the ECT sector exceeded that of the overall economy (+19.4% from 2020 to 2024). The ECT sector represented 1.7% of all jobs in Canada in 2024, a share that has remained constant compared with 2023.
Ontario (37.4%) had the largest share of ECT jobs in Canada in 2024, followed by Quebec (23.7%) and British Columbia (14.4%). Together, these provinces represented over three-quarters of jobs in the sector. The largest job growth in the ECT sector from 2023 to 2024 occurred in Prince Edward Island (+12.4%), followed by Nova Scotia (+6.5%) and Saskatchewan (+4.8%).
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For a comprehensive overview of annual changes in human resources information for the environmental and clean technology products sector, check out the Demographic Characteristics of Employees in the Environmental and Clean Technology Products Sector visualization tool.
One-third of jobs are held by employees with a high school diploma or less
In 2024, 32.7% of ECT sector jobs were held by employees with a high school diploma or less, while 29.8% of jobs were held by employees with a university certificate, diploma or degree. Among provinces that had the largest share of ECT jobs, British Columbia (35.5%) had the highest proportion of employees with a high school diploma or less, followed by Ontario (32.3%) and Quebec (24.1%).
The administrative and support, waste management and remediation services industry had the largest proportion of paid worker jobs held by individuals with a high school diploma or less (54.3%) in 2024, while the professional, scientific and technical services industry had the largest share of jobs held by employees with a university credential (56.7%).
Greater visible minority representation among younger workers
In Canada, 28.9% of ECT jobs were held by workers who self-identified as a visible minority in 2024. Comparison of the distribution of workers employed in the ECT sector by age group shows that visible minority workers (27.0%) were more likely to be found in the 25-to-34 years age group than non-visible minority workers (21.9%). Conversely, visible minority workers (13.0%) were less prevalent in the 55-to-64 years age group than non-visible minority workers (19.9%).
Fewer than 3 in 10 jobs are held by women
In 2024, 29.0% of ECT jobs in Canada were held by women. The number of jobs held by women (-0.5%) declined slightly in 2024, while the number of jobs held by men (+1.8%) continued to rise.
Among provinces and territories in 2024, the share of jobs held by women in the ECT sector ranged from 19.7% in Nunavut to 31.8% in Prince Edward Island. In Ontario, where the majority of ECT jobs were located, 29.7% of ECT jobs were held by women. Nunavut had the largest year-over-year job decline for women (-11.9%), while Prince Edward Island had the greatest growth (+17.6%).
Chart 1
Share of jobs held by women in the environmental and clean technology products sector, by geography, 2024
Average hourly wage growth for women outpaces wage growth for men, but gender wage gap remains
Average hourly compensation increased by 3.4% year over year to $49.38 per hour for women in the ECT sector in 2024, outpacing compensation growth for men (+2.5% to $59.41 per hour).
The professional, scientific and technical services industry was the lone industry where women (53.4%) outnumbered men (46.6%) in 2024. This industry also had the greatest gender wage gap, with women ($42.01 per hour) making 29.9% less per hour on average than men ($59.94 per hour).
Chart 2
National average hourly compensation, environmental and clean technology products sector
Note to readers
The aim of the Human Resource Module (HRM) is to provide timely and reliable statistics on the human resources associated with environmental and clean technology activities production in Canada. Starting with this release, estimates are available at the provincial and territorial level for reference years 2022 to 2024.
The HRM complements and enhances the analytical capacity provided by the Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account and allows for a broader insight into the sector's role in the economy by providing more detailed human resource information (e.g., gender, age, education, immigration status, Indigenous identity, wages and occupation types).
In the HRM, the concept of "jobs" aligns with the Canadian Productivity Accounts definition and with the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. This concept corresponds closely to the production of goods and services and is based on the province or the territory of employment. Individuals may have more than one source of income from employment because they work for more than one employer. The number of jobs in the economy thus exceeds the number of people employed to the extent that employees may occupy more than one job. Estimates in this statistical product cover employee jobs only, which excludes self-employed jobs.
Since its introduction in the 2021 Census of Population, the "gender" variable refers to the gender of the person holding the paid worker job. Gender refers to an individual's personal and social identity as a man, woman or non-binary person (a person who is not exclusively a man or a woman). Given that the non-binary population is relatively small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the category "non-binary persons" are distributed into the other two gender categories. Prior to the 2021 Census of Population, this variable refers to sex.
Estimates for 2023 and 2024 are preliminary and will be revised when updated data become available, including the supply and use tables for those reference years. National data from the Canadian Productivity Accounts are a key input to the HRM estimates. Data from the Labour Force Survey, the 2006, 2016 and 2021 Census of Population, and the 2011 National Household Survey are also incorporated.
Environmental and clean technologies are defined as any process, product or service that reduces environmental impacts through any of the following three strategies:
- environmental protection activities that prevent, reduce or eliminate pollution or any other degradation of the environment;
- resource management activities that result in the more efficient use of natural resources, thus safeguarding against their depletion;
- the use of goods that have been adapted to be significantly less energy or resource intensive than the standard.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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