Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a mechanic and repair trades trades certificate?
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 mechanic and repair trades trades certificate in Ontario?
In the 2021 Census, the most common jobs among employed Ontarians aged 25 to 34 with an apprenticeship or trades certificate in mechanic and repair trades were automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers (33.2%), heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics (10%) and construction millwrights and industrial mechanics (8.6%). This is one of the more direct fields: the single biggest job, automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers, covers 33.2% of these graduates, and the 12 most common jobs together cover 70.1%.
What graduates really do
What jobs do mechanic and repair trades graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the mechanic and repair technologies group, so the lead table is Ontario people aged 25 to 34 whose highest credential is an apprenticeship or trades certificate. The Canada tables below split out vehicle repair and heating and cooling.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairersOur guide | 31.6% | 40,345 | Moderate | $30.00/hr |
| Auto body collision, refinishing and glass technicians and damage repair estimatorsOur guide | 7.6% | 9,690 | Moderate | $29.00/hr |
| Transport truck driversOur guide | 4.2% | 5,415 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 4.1% | 5,195 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Heavy-duty equipment mechanicsOur guide | 2.6% | 3,295 | Moderate | $35.00/hr |
| Contractors and supervisors, mechanic trades | 2.5% | 3,155 | Moderate | $38.46/hr |
| Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectorsOur guide | 1.8% | 2,325 | Good | $38.00/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 1.6% | 2,020 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Construction millwrights and industrial mechanicsOur guide | 1.3% | 1,680 | Moderate | $35.59/hr |
| Storekeepers and partspersons | 1.3% | 1,640 | Limited | $27.00/hr |
| Motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle and other related mechanics | 1.3% | 1,610 | Moderate | $31.55/hr |
| Material handlers | 1.1% | 1,395 | Limited | $21.50/hr |
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanicsOur guide | 45.5% | 9,660 | Good | $37.00/hr |
| Contractors and supervisors, mechanic trades | 7% | 1,490 | Moderate | $38.46/hr |
| Electronic service technicians (household and business equipment) | 2.3% | 485 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| General building maintenance workers and building superintendents | 2.1% | 445 | Moderate | $24.00/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.6% | 330 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 1.6% | 330 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Transport truck driversOur guide | 1.4% | 305 | Moderate | $26.00/hr |
| Oil and solid fuel heating mechanics | 1.3% | 285 | Moderate | $27.78/hr |
| Appliance servicers and repairers | 1.3% | 285 | Limited | $27.00/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 1.3% | 280 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Facility operation and maintenance managers | 1.1% | 240 | Moderate | $45.19/hr |
| Gas fitters | 1% | 215 | Moderate | $36.06/hr |
Do those jobs have openings?
Which of those jobs are hiring?
1 of the 12 most common jobs have a good or very good Ontario outlook from Job Bank for 2025 to 2027, together covering 10% of these graduates. Outlook is a province-wide forecast of openings against job seekers, not a promise for any one town or employer.
- Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics: Job Bank outlook good, 10% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A mechanic or repair program gives you the theory and shop skills, but in Ontario a compulsory trade such as automotive service technician requires registration through an apprenticeship to work legally in the trade.
Employers often hire apprentices who have a college program behind them, but the program and the apprenticeship are separate things.
Routes that need more than the degree
Start a registered apprenticeship
Skilled Trades Ontario lists five steps: qualify (at least 16, authorized to work in Canada, the education the trade asks for, and a sponsor in Ontario), find a sponsor, apply, sign a Training Agreement with your sponsor, and download your logbook. It says about 20% of an apprenticeship is in-school training, in cycles of 8 to 12 weeks. A college program on its own is not an apprenticeship. Skilled Trades Ontario: starting your apprenticeshipAutomotive service technician (310S)
Skilled Trades Ontario lists this as a compulsory trade, about 7,220 hours including 720 in school, and a Red Seal trade. To practise legally in Ontario you must hold a Registered Training Agreement, Provisional Certificate of Qualification or Certificate of Qualification and appear on the Public Register. Skilled Trades Ontario: automotive service technicianAuto body and collision damage repairer (310B)
Skilled Trades Ontario lists this as a compulsory trade, 8,000 hours including 720 in school, and a Red Seal trade known nationally as Auto Body and Collision Technician. Certificates must be renewed to remain valid. Skilled Trades Ontario: auto body and collision damage repairerRefrigeration and air conditioning systems mechanic (313A)
Skilled Trades Ontario lists this as a compulsory trade, about 9,000 hours including 720 in school, and a Red Seal trade. The same registration rule applies as for other compulsory trades. Skilled Trades Ontario: refrigeration and air conditioning systems mechanic
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.
- Automotive service technicianDiagnosing and repairing cars and light trucks, which now means as much laptop and scanner as wrench.Career guide
- Auto body technicianRepairing and refinishing damaged vehicles so a car that was crushed on Monday looks untouched on Friday.Career guide
- HVAC technicianInstalling and fixing the heating, cooling and refrigeration equipment that people only think about when it stops working.Career guide
- MillwrightInstalling, aligning and repairing the heavy machinery inside factories and plants, so the line keeps moving.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
- Agricultural equipment technicianKeeping combines, tractors and sprayers running — increasingly with a laptop in one hand — usually against a weather deadline.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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