Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a legal studies 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 legal studies 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 legal studies were lawyers and Quebec notaries (50.6%), paralegals and related occupations (4.2%) and legal administrative assistants (3.4%). This is one of the more direct fields: the single biggest job, lawyers and Quebec notaries, covers 50.6% of these graduates, and the 12 most common jobs together cover 68.2%.
What graduates really do
What jobs do legal studies graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the legal professions and studies group, so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34. The college tables below are mostly paralegal and legal support programs.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers and Quebec notariesOur guide | 50.6% | 9,960 | Moderate | $65.21/hr |
| Paralegals and related occupations | 4.2% | 835 | Moderate | $33.00/hr |
| Legal administrative assistants | 3.4% | 660 | Moderate | $26.44/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 1.5% | 295 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Administrative officers | 1.4% | 285 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| Human resources professionalsOur guide | 1.3% | 250 | Limited | $39.90/hr |
| Social policy researchers, consultants and program officers | 1.1% | 225 | Moderate | $44.62/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 1.1% | 225 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Administrative assistants | 1% | 205 | Moderate | $26.67/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 0.9% | 185 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relationsOur guide | 0.9% | 180 | Limited | $37.02/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 0.8% | 150 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paralegals and related occupations | 20.8% | 1,715 | Moderate | $33.00/hr |
| Legal administrative assistants | 12.3% | 1,015 | Moderate | $26.44/hr |
| Administrative assistants | 4.1% | 340 | Moderate | $26.67/hr |
| Administrative officers | 3.3% | 275 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 3.3% | 270 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 3.3% | 270 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| General office support workers | 2.4% | 200 | Moderate | $23.08/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.5% | 125 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Receptionists | 1.4% | 115 | Moderate | $20.50/hr |
| Cashiers | 1.3% | 110 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Customer services representatives - financial institutions | 1.3% | 105 | Limited | $22.00/hr |
| Accounting and related clerks | 1.1% | 90 | Moderate | $25.00/hr |
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paralegals and related occupations | 16% | 11,820 | Moderate | $33.00/hr |
| Legal administrative assistants | 15.5% | 11,485 | Moderate | $26.44/hr |
| Administrative assistants | 6.1% | 4,515 | Moderate | $26.67/hr |
| Administrative officers | 4.4% | 3,245 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| General office support workers | 2.8% | 2,045 | Moderate | $23.08/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 2.4% | 1,765 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 2.1% | 1,530 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Executive assistants | 1.7% | 1,290 | Moderate | $35.93/hr |
| Accounting and related clerks | 1.7% | 1,220 | Moderate | $25.00/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.4% | 1,035 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Receptionists | 1.3% | 955 | Moderate | $20.50/hr |
| Accounting technicians and bookkeepersOur guide | 1.2% | 900 | Good | $28.50/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.
- Lawyers and Quebec notaries: Job Bank outlook moderate, 50.6% of these graduates.
- Paralegals and related occupations: Job Bank outlook moderate, 4.2% of these graduates.
- Legal administrative assistants: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3.4% of these graduates.
- Social policy researchers, consultants and program officers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.1% of these graduates.
- Administrative assistants: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1% of these graduates.
- Retail and wholesale trade managers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 0.9% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A legal studies degree is an undergraduate degree about how law works. It does not make you a lawyer or let you practise law.
Becoming a lawyer in Ontario needs law school and licensing by the Law Society of Ontario. We could not read the Law Society's own page or another official source, so we do not list those steps. Confirm them with the Law Society and the law schools you are considering.
Routes that need more than the degree
Add 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.
- LawyerApplying the law to a real person's problem, in writing or in a courtroom, with a licence that makes you answerable for the advice.Career guide
- Police officerGoing to the calls nobody else will go to, mostly talking people down, and writing up every bit of it afterwards.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
- Insurance agentHelping people and businesses work out what could go wrong and what it would cost, then selling them protection against it.Career guide
- Real estate salespersonFinding people who are about to move, earning their trust, and being paid only when a deal actually closes.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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