Job prospects Technical Support Agent in Ontario
Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "technical support agent" in Ontario or across Canada.
Job opportunities in Ontario
These outlooks were updated on December 11, 2024.
Prospects over the next 3 years
The employment outlook will be moderate for User support technicians (NOC 22221) in Ontario for the 2024-2026 period.
The following factors contributed to this outlook:
- Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
- Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
- There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.
What Types of Employers Are Out There?
- All major sectors of the economy, but the leading share is in computer systems design and related services
- Telecommunication carriers
- Business support services, including call centres
- Public administration, especially the federal government
What are the Main Trends Affecting Employment?
- Digital changes occurring in many business operations
- Prevalence of smart devices in households should lead to opportunities to provide technical support
- Some opportunities are expected from third-party providers of help desk support, including cloud-based services
- However, the growing use of self-service chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) could negatively affect the number of entry-level positions
What Skills Do I Need To Succeed?
- User support technicians provide various levels of assistance, from the basic Tier 1 help desk function, to the more advanced Tier 3 level, which may affect the skill requirements of advertised positions
- Two voluntary skilled trades are associated with this occupation in Ontario, namely, Information Technology (IT): Contact Centre Technical Support Agent, and Hardware Technician.
Here are some key facts about User support technicians in Ontario:
- Approximately 50,000 people work in this occupation.
- User support technicians mainly work in the following sectors:
- Computer systems design services (NAICS 5415): 28%
- Information and cultural industries (NAICS 51): 10%
- Management and administrative services (NAICS 55, 56): 9%
- Monetary Authorities - central bank and securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation and related activities (NAICS 521, 522, 523): 7%
- Federal government public administration (NAICS 911): 7%
- The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
- Full-time workers: 91% compared to 81% for all occupations
- Part-time workers: 9% compared to 19% for all occupations
- 75% of user support technicians work all year, while 25% work only part of the year, compared to 63% and 37% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 45 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
- Less than 5% of user support technicians are self-employed compared to an average of 15% for all occupations.
- The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
- Men: 71% compared to 52% for all occupations
- Women: 28% compared to 48% for all occupations
- The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
- no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 9% for all occupations
- high school diploma or equivalent: 19% compared to 25% for all occupations
- apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: less than 5% compared to 8% for all occupations
- college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 34% compared to 22% for all occupations
- bachelor's degree: 31% compared to 24% for all occupations
- university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 11% compared to 13% for all occupations
Breakdown by region
Explore job prospects in Ontario by economic region.
Legend
Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology
Job prospects elsewhere in Canada
Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "technical support agent" User support technicians (NOC 22221) or across Canada.
- Date modified: