Job prospects Secretary-clerk in Québec

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "secretary-clerk" in Québec or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Québec

These outlooks were updated on December 11, 2024.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Administrative assistants (NOC 13110) in Quebec for the 2024-2026 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
• Several positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

This occupation is found in every industry, but particularly in services. In the medium term, it is expected to benefit from projected growth in the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, construction, teaching services, health care and social assistance sectors. However, growth should be slow at the beginning of the forecast period for the last two sectors due to the hiring freeze on administrative employees in public services.  

The administrative support community is still experiencing a labour shortage. Employee turnover is high, and replacement workforce is not sufficient to meet the labour market demand. 

Companies that are making the transition to digitizing their business and work teams that are spread out geographically should continue to benefit this occupational group, even though a growing number of organizations is adopting flexible work modes. The need to coordinate work teams in a virtual environment will remain important, which could be favourable for freelancers in this occupation. 

Since bilingualism is essential for companies that want to increase business opportunities both nationally and internationally, candidates who are proficient in both official languages are sought after. 

Here are some key facts about Administrative assistants in Quebec:

• Approximately 79,050 people work in this occupation.
• Administrative assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (NAICS 52, 53): 12%
  • Construction (NAICS 23): 9%
  • Elementary and secondary schools (NAICS 6111): 7%
  • Ambulatory health care services (NAICS 621): 6%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 82% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 18% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 64% of administrative assistants work all year, while 36% work only part of the year, compared to 62% and 38% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 44 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: less than 5% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: more than 95% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 5% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 24% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 27% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 30% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 11% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 11% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Québec by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Job prospects elsewhere in Canada

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "secretary-clerk" Administrative assistants (NOC 13110) or across Canada.

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