Job prospects Harvest Hand in Québec

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "harvest hand" 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 moderate for Harvesting labourers (NOC 85101) in Quebec for the 2024-2026 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

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

From year to year, farm size continues to increase, and the concentration of activity has continued within large farms. As a result, productivity gains from investments in equipment and increased use of farm machinery have reduced labour requirements in these businesses.

Despite this, the majority of tasks remain difficult to automate and the industry must rely on these workers to perform work on crop and livestock farms. Recruitment is difficult, and despite improvements in certain working conditions, the industry must rely on temporary foreign workers to fill available jobs.

People are still interested in eating healthy when they can afford it. The development of networks for buying local and short food supply chains promotes the establishment of small, local vegetable production and livestock operations. These new trends create additional employment opportunities for this occupation.              

Here are some key facts about Harvesting labourers in Quebec:

• Approximately 7,950 people work in this occupation.
• Harvesting labourers mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Agriculture (NAICS 111, 112, 1151, 1152): more than 95%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 79% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 21% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 37% of harvesting labourers work all year, while 63% 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 35 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• 21% of harvesting labourers are self-employed compared to an average of 12% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 73% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 27% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 39% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 25% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 18% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 12% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: less than 5% 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 "harvest hand" in Québec or across Canada.

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