Toronto sees a surge in tech talent

Increased demand for AI skill set fuelling job growth across all sectors, CBRE official says

- RITIKA DUBEY

Toronto saw the most tech job gains of any North American market over the last five years as demand for artificial intelligence skill sets rose, a new report says.

The city added 95,900 tech talent jobs between 2018 and 2023, representing growth of 44 per cent over that time frame, commercial real estate services firm CBRE said in a report released Wednesday.

Toronto ranked fourth in the top 50 tech markets for this year, moving up one spot compared with last year, the report said. The top three markets were the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and New York.

Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE's tech insights centre, said increased demand for artificial intelligence skill sets has fuelled tech talent job growth across all sectors.

"For the first time in more than a decade, more tech talent was hired by non-tech companies," Yasukochi said during a webinar on Wednesday.

Toronto was not the only Canadian city to move up in the report's ranking. Ottawa moved up one spot to rank 10th. Calgary jumped to the 17th spot.