Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with an engineering degree?
What graduates actually work as, from Statistics Canada, beside what Job Bank says about each job: openings, pay, and what it takes.
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What can you do with an engineering degree in Ontario?
In the 2021 Census, the most common jobs among employed Ontarians aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher in engineering were software engineers and designers (7.8%), mechanical engineers (7.7%) and civil engineers (6.9%). The 12 most common jobs cover only 48% of graduates, so engineering leads to a wide spread of work rather than one career.
What graduates really do
What jobs do engineering graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the engineering group as a whole, so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34. The Canada tables below split out mechanical, electrical and civil.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 7.8% | 7,190 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| Mechanical engineersOur guide | 7.7% | 7,125 | Limited | $46.42/hr |
| Civil engineersOur guide | 6.9% | 6,420 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Software developers and programmers | 5.3% | 4,865 | Limited | $48.08/hr |
| Electrical and electronics engineersOur guide | 4.7% | 4,320 | Limited | $50.00/hr |
| Information systems specialists | 3.2% | 2,920 | Moderate | $47.00/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 3.1% | 2,830 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Industrial and manufacturing engineers | 2.2% | 2,050 | Limited | $45.67/hr |
| Web developers and programmersOur guide | 1.9% | 1,765 | Very limited | $40.00/hr |
| Construction managersOur guide | 1.8% | 1,705 | Moderate | $50.61/hr |
| Engineering managers | 1.8% | 1,680 | Moderate | $72.12/hr |
| Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) | 1.6% | 1,505 | Limited | $52.88/hr |
How does it look for other groups?
These are different groups of people, shown separately on purpose: a different place, age group or level of education. Do not read them as one comparison.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical engineersOur guide | 28.8% | 19,850 | Limited | $46.42/hr |
| Engineering managers | 3.5% | 2,420 | Moderate | $72.12/hr |
| Industrial and manufacturing engineers | 2.4% | 1,635 | Limited | $45.67/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 2.1% | 1,475 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Manufacturing managers | 2% | 1,390 | Moderate | $52.88/hr |
| Mechanical engineering technologists and technicians | 1.5% | 1,065 | Limited | $38.00/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.5% | 1,060 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Construction managersOur guide | 1.5% | 1,040 | Moderate | $50.61/hr |
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 1.4% | 990 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| Transport truck driversOur guide | 1.3% | 915 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| Information systems specialists | 1.3% | 910 | Moderate | $47.00/hr |
| Facility operation and maintenance managers | 1.3% | 865 | Moderate | $45.19/hr |
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical and electronics engineersOur guide | 20.3% | 15,470 | Limited | $50.00/hr |
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 5.8% | 4,415 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| Information systems specialists | 4.5% | 3,465 | Moderate | $47.00/hr |
| Software developers and programmers | 3.9% | 2,940 | Limited | $48.08/hr |
| Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) | 2.8% | 2,125 | Limited | $52.88/hr |
| Engineering managers | 2.4% | 1,865 | Moderate | $72.12/hr |
| Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians | 2.4% | 1,860 | Moderate | $34.09/hr |
| Computer and information systems managers | 2.1% | 1,625 | Limited | $66.67/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 1.5% | 1,110 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Electricians (except industrial and power system)Our guide | 1.4% | 1,040 | Moderate | $34.00/hr |
| Computer network and web technicians | 1.4% | 1,035 | Moderate | $35.71/hr |
| Web developers and programmersOur guide | 1.3% | 1,005 | Very limited | $40.00/hr |
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil engineersOur guide | 37.9% | 18,705 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Construction managersOur guide | 6.7% | 3,330 | Moderate | $50.61/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 2.5% | 1,230 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Civil engineering technologists and technicians | 2.2% | 1,085 | Moderate | $32.60/hr |
| Construction estimators | 1.8% | 895 | Moderate | $38.46/hr |
| Drafting technologists and technicians | 1.5% | 740 | Limited | $31.25/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 1.2% | 615 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Engineering managers | 1.2% | 610 | Moderate | $72.12/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.2% | 590 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Contractors and supervisors, heavy equipment operator crews | 1% | 515 | Moderate | $40.00/hr |
| Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations | 0.9% | 420 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Transport truck driversOur guide | 0.8% | 415 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
Do those jobs have openings?
Which of those jobs are hiring?
None of the 12 most common jobs for these graduates has a good or very good Ontario outlook from Job Bank for 2025 to 2027; the best-rated are listed below. That means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hired. Outlook is a province-wide forecast of openings against job seekers, not a promise for any one town or employer.
- Civil engineers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 6.9% of these graduates.
- Information systems specialists: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3.2% of these graduates.
- Construction managers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.8% of these graduates.
- Engineering managers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.8% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
An engineering degree on its own does not let you practise as a professional engineer or use the P.Eng. title. Licensing is a separate step with a regulator, and it asks for more than the degree.
Whether your program is accredited matters for the licensing path, so check that before you enrol. Many engineering roles do not need the licence, but those that sign off on public safety work usually do.
Routes that need more than the degree
Become a licensed professional engineer
Engineers Canada lists five criteria for licensure: an engineering degree from a Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board-accredited undergraduate program or equivalent qualifications, the engineering work experience your regulator requires, the Professional Practice Examination, good character, and the ability to work in English or French. It says the specific requirements vary by regulator, and in Ontario the regulator is Professional Engineers Ontario, whose own site we could not read, so confirm the details there. Engineers Canada: overview of the licensing processAdd a college graduate certificate
Ontario Colleges states that graduate certificates require a university degree or a college certificate or diploma for admission, and build on knowledge and experience from earlier postsecondary study. Check each program on ontariocolleges.ca for its own entry requirements. Ontario Colleges: program types
Jobs to look at
Careers worth a closer look
Full guides: what the work is really like, who hates it, what it pays, and the route in.
- Civil engineerDesigning the things everybody uses and nobody thinks about — roads, bridges, water, foundations — and being legally responsible when they fail.Career guide
- Mechanical engineerDesigning, testing and improving machines and the systems around them, and signing your name to the result once licensed.Career guide
- Electrical engineerDesigning and testing the electrical and electronic systems that power, control and connect everything else.Career guide
- Software developerWriting and fixing the instructions behind an app or a system, mostly by reading other people's code and working out why it is wrong.Career guide
- Aircraft maintenance engineerInspecting, repairing and signing off aircraft as safe to fly, where your signature is the legal point of the job.Career guide
- Construction managerRunning the schedule, budget and people on a building project, and being the one phoned when any of those three goes wrong.Career guide
Read this before you rely on it
What the numbers do not show
- The Census is from 2021. Jobs and hiring have moved since. Job Bank's outlook is current to 2025 to 2027.
- It counts employed people and what they do, not whether they wanted that job or use their degree in it. A graduate working as a retail supervisor is counted in the data exactly like one working in their field.
- It is a 25% sample, and Statistics Canada rounds every count to a multiple of five. Small groups are noisy.
- For Ontario the Census publishes bachelor's degree or higher together, so those tables include master's and doctoral graduates.
- Each person is counted once, by their highest credential. A person who finished a diploma and then a degree appears under the degree, not the diploma.
- The 12 jobs shown are the most common, not all of them. The rest of the graduates are spread across hundreds of other jobs.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, tables 98-10-0447-01 and 98-10-0403-01; Job Bank (Employment and Social Development Canada) Ontario outlooks and wages, linked on each job. We join them by occupation code and change neither.
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