A new report has shown that more skilled workers are needed to take up IT jobs in Canada in order to avoid labor shortages in the coming years.

Produced by the Information and Communications Technology Council, in collaboration with the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), the study indicated that the industry will have to hire 106,000 people in the next five years.

According to the report, there is a mismatch between the skills required and those available in all regions of the country, which is exacerbated by the gender imbalance of the sector, where 75 per cent of employees are male.

Bernard Courtois, president and chief executive of ITAC, said: "The potential skills and labor shortage crisis has been identified as one of the most defining issues facing the ICT sector in Canada today."

Statistics Canada recently reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose for the sixth consecutive month in January, with a 4.2 per cent increase taking wages to $870.33.

Posted by Fiona Summers