Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a family and human sciences 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 a family and human sciences 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 family and human sciences were elementary school and kindergarten teachers (10.9%), early childhood educators and assistants (9.9%) and dietitians and nutritionists (9.7%). The 12 most common jobs cover only 53.6% of graduates, so family and human sciences leads to a wide spread of work rather than one career.
What graduates really do
What jobs do family and human sciences graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the family and consumer sciences and human sciences group (nutrition, child development, family studies), so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34. The college table below is the larger group.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary school and kindergarten teachers | 10.9% | 665 | Moderate | $46.15/hr |
| Early childhood educators and assistantsOur guide | 9.9% | 605 | Good | $22.00/hr |
| Dietitians and nutritionists | 9.7% | 595 | Moderate | $42.00/hr |
| Social and community service workers | 6.1% | 370 | Moderate | $26.50/hr |
| Elementary and secondary school teacher assistants | 4.1% | 250 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 2.2% | 135 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 2.2% | 135 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Administrative assistantsOur guide | 2.1% | 130 | Moderate | $26.67/hr |
| Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relationsOur guide | 1.7% | 105 | Limited | $37.02/hr |
| Administrative officers | 1.7% | 105 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 1.5% | 90 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies | 1.5% | 90 | Very good | $33.00/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early childhood educators and assistantsOur guide | 41.5% | 9,360 | Good | $22.00/hr |
| Social and community service workers | 7.1% | 1,600 | Moderate | $26.50/hr |
| Elementary and secondary school teacher assistants | 5.5% | 1,240 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 3% | 675 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates | 2.6% | 590 | Good | $24.00/hr |
| Elementary school and kindergarten teachers | 2.5% | 575 | Moderate | $46.15/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 1.8% | 405 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations | 1.6% | 370 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.6% | 360 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Cashiers | 1.3% | 300 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Home child care providers | 1.2% | 270 | Moderate | $19.00/hr |
| Managers in social, community and correctional services | 1.1% | 245 | Very good | $48.08/hr |
Do those jobs have openings?
Which of those jobs are hiring?
2 of the 12 most common jobs have a good or very good Ontario outlook from Job Bank for 2025 to 2027, together covering 11.4% of these graduates. Outlook is a province-wide forecast of openings against job seekers, not a promise for any one town or employer.
- Early childhood educators and assistants: Job Bank outlook good, 9.9% of these graduates.
- Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies: Job Bank outlook very good, 1.5% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A family or human sciences credential is broad. It does not make you a registered early childhood educator or a registered dietitian, which each have their own education requirements and a regulator.
If one of those professions is your goal, choose a program the regulator accepts before you enrol.
Routes that need more than the degree
Register as an early childhood educator
Ontario says you need a diploma or equivalent education, typically a 2-year early childhood education diploma from an Ontario college, and then a certificate of registration from the College of Early Childhood Educators. Only registered members may use the titles early childhood educator and registered early childhood educator. Ontario.ca: become a registered early childhood educatorRegister as a dietitian
The College of Dietitians of Ontario says registration requires a university degree and supervised practical training that meet the standards for dietetics education in Canada, and passing the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination. A general family or human sciences degree may or may not meet that standard, so check the program with the College. College of Dietitians of Ontario: registration requirementsAdd 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.
- Early childhood educatorTeaching and caring for young children in child care and early learning settings, where playing, feeding and comforting are all the curriculum.Career guide
- Social workerHelping people and families get through crises and hard systems, from housing and child safety to mental health and end of life.Career guide
- TeacherGetting thirty people who did not choose to be there to learn something, five times a day, and marking it afterwards.Career guide
- Recreation and fitness instructorLeading classes, groups and programmes in sport, fitness and recreation, often part-time and often with the hours that other people have free.Career guide
- Human resources professionalHiring, paying, training and sometimes letting go of the people an organisation depends on, inside rules that exist for good reasons.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; 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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