Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a philosophy 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 philosophy 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 philosophy were post-secondary teaching and research assistants (7.2%), professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations (3.5%) and elementary school and kindergarten teachers (3.4%). The 12 most common jobs cover only 33.7% of graduates, so philosophy leads to a wide spread of work rather than one career.
What graduates really do
What jobs do philosophy graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the philosophy and religious studies group, so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 7.2% | 320 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relationsOur guide | 3.5% | 155 | Limited | $37.02/hr |
| Elementary school and kindergarten teachers | 3.4% | 150 | Moderate | $46.15/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 3.4% | 150 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Lawyers and Quebec notariesOur guide | 3% | 135 | Moderate | $65.21/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 2.7% | 120 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| University professors and lecturers | 2.4% | 105 | Moderate | $64.10/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.9% | 85 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Religious leaders | 1.7% | 75 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Administrative officers | 1.5% | 65 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| Administrative assistantsOur guide | 1.5% | 65 | Moderate | $26.67/hr |
| Paralegals and related occupationsOur guide | 1.5% | 65 | Moderate | $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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 3.4% | 445 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relationsOur guide | 3.1% | 405 | Limited | $37.02/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 2.3% | 305 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Lawyers and Quebec notariesOur guide | 2.1% | 275 | Moderate | $65.21/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 2% | 265 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Advertising, marketing and public relations managers | 1.9% | 255 | Very limited | $57.44/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 1.9% | 245 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Social and community service workers | 1.7% | 220 | Moderate | $26.50/hr |
| Elementary school and kindergarten teachers | 1.6% | 205 | Moderate | $46.15/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 1.4% | 190 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Administrative officers | 1.4% | 185 | Limited | $29.38/hr |
| College and other vocational instructors | 1.3% | 170 | Limited | $45.00/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.
- Elementary school and kindergarten teachers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3.4% of these graduates.
- Lawyers and Quebec notaries: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3% of these graduates.
- University professors and lecturers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 2.4% of these graduates.
- Retail and wholesale trade managers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.9% of these graduates.
- Administrative assistants: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.5% of these graduates.
- Paralegals and related occupations: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.5% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A philosophy degree is a general credential. It builds reasoning, reading and writing skills and does not lead to a regulated profession by itself.
Teaching builds on the degree and needs a teacher education program and certification. For most other roles you will rely on what you can show you have done, or on a short added credential.
Routes that need more than the degree
Become an Ontario certified teacher
The Ontario College of Teachers describes a consecutive program as a four-semester program leading to a Bachelor of Education, open to students who have completed an undergraduate degree. Its becoming-a-teacher page lists a postsecondary degree of at least three years plus a four-semester teacher education program, then an application to the College for certification. Ontario College of Teachers: teacher education program providersAdd 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.
- TeacherGetting thirty people who did not choose to be there to learn something, five times a day, and marking it afterwards.Career guide
- JournalistFinding out what is true, writing it so people read it, and getting it out before somebody else does.Career guide
- 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
- 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
- Marketing specialistGetting the right people to notice something and act on it, then proving with numbers whether it worked.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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