Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a physical sciences degree?
What graduates actually work as, from Statistics Canada, beside what Job Bank says about each job: openings, pay, and what it takes.
Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this
What can you do with a physical 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 physical sciences were post-secondary teaching and research assistants (14%), chemists (8%) and geoscientists and oceanographers (5.7%). The 12 most common jobs cover only 45.2% of graduates, so physical sciences leads to a wide spread of work rather than one career.
What graduates really do
What jobs do physical sciences graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the physical sciences group (chemistry, physics, earth sciences), so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34. The Canada table below is chemistry alone.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 14% | 1,510 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Chemists | 8% | 865 | Moderate | $39.49/hr |
| Geoscientists and oceanographers | 5.7% | 610 | Moderate | $57.69/hr |
| University professors and lecturers | 3.4% | 370 | Moderate | $64.10/hr |
| Software developers and programmers | 2.7% | 290 | Limited | $48.08/hr |
| Data scientistsOur guide | 2% | 210 | Limited | $47.69/hr |
| Secondary school teachersOur guide | 1.9% | 200 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 1.7% | 185 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers | 1.7% | 180 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 1.5% | 160 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 1.3% | 140 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Biologists and related scientists | 1.3% | 135 | Very limited | $40.00/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemists | 14.9% | 3,595 | Moderate | $39.49/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 4.7% | 1,125 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Secondary school teachersOur guide | 2.2% | 540 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers | 2% | 475 | Limited | $17.95/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.9% | 465 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Architecture and science managers | 1.8% | 425 | Moderate | $65.93/hr |
| Manufacturing managers | 1.6% | 395 | Moderate | $52.88/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 1.5% | 350 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Professional occupations in business management consulting | 1.2% | 290 | Moderate | $44.94/hr |
| Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers | 1.1% | 270 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Other customer and information services representatives | 1.1% | 270 | Very limited | $21.50/hr |
| Administrative officers | 1.1% | 255 | Limited | $29.38/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.
- Chemists: Job Bank outlook moderate, 8% of these graduates.
- Geoscientists and oceanographers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 5.7% of these graduates.
- University professors and lecturers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3.4% of these graduates.
- Secondary school teachers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 1.9% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A physical sciences degree, such as chemistry, physics or earth science, is science training and not a licence. Laboratory and technical roles often ask for the lab skills you built along with a specialized college program or graduate study.
Teaching builds on the degree and needs the teacher education program and certification. Engineering licensing is a separate path with its own regulator and requirements.
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
- Medical laboratory technologistTesting blood, tissue and other samples so a doctor can read the result, and being the person who notices when a result looks wrong.Career guide
- Data scientistTurning messy records into an answer somebody can act on, then explaining honestly how sure you are.Career guide
- Conservation officerAn armed peace officer who enforces fish, wildlife and natural resource laws in the field, and is very hard to become.Career guide
- Agricultural representativeAdvising farmers on what to grow, feed or change, using soil, crop, animal and money data, and then driving to a farm to see for yourself.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.
Finished the degree and stuck?
There is a plan for the next 90 days
Other degrees
Psychology Sociology Political science Business Biology Communications English Social work Education Engineering Computer science Health professions Visual and performing arts History Mathematics and statistics Legal studies Kinesiology and recreation Architecture Philosophy Languages and linguistics Environment and natural resources Family and human sciences Liberal arts and general studies Police foundations Culinary and personal services Engineering technology Construction trades Mechanic and repair trades Welding, machining and precision trades Transportation and materials moving Criminology and criminal justice All degrees Every job in Ontario