Working in Durham – A Look at Jobs, Skills, and In-Demand Occupations
Durham Region’s labour market is evolving. From 2016 to 2021, employment grew by 3%, with substantial increases in high-demand areas like:
- Natural and Applied Sciences (+41%)
- Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators (+23%)
- Health Occupations (+25%)
At the same time, employment declined in some sectors, like manufacturing (-6%) and arts and entertainment (-10%). These shifts reflect broader economic trends, including automation, an aging population, and pandemic-era disruptions.
Job posting data from the DWA’s Jobs First Durham tool offers hyper-local insights into the local workforce. In 2024, over 49,000 job postings were analyzed, revealing the top skills employers want:
- Communication (mentioned in 39% of postings)
- Interpersonal skills (37%)
- Management and problem-solving (34%)
Interestingly, digital skills such as Microsoft Office and IT support also ranked high, reflecting the growing importance of tech literacy across all sectors—not just in IT.
As the NOC system evolves (now using a five-digit code), understanding changes in job classification helps job seekers and service providers align training with the needs of today’s market.
About the DWA:
The DWA creates an annual plan supplying helpful information for community planning. The DWA hosts Jobs First Durham (JFD) a boutique job board with hyper-local information.
The DWA provides just-in-time custom labour market information and often conducts custom fee-for-service research. If you are interested in local data, please don’t hesitate to contact the DWA.
The Province of Ontario partially funds the DWA to supply Labour Market Information (LMI) to the Region of Durham.