From Today’s Labour Shortages to Tomorrow’s Immigration Priorities: What Could Canada Prioritize Next?

If you are planning your career around Canadian permanent residence, one of the most common questions is: what jobs will be in demand in Canada in 2027, 2028, 2029 and beyond?

There is no official government list today that tells us exactly which occupations Canada will prioritize for permanent residence several years from now. Immigration categories can change annually, and being employed in an in-demand occupation does not automatically make someone eligible for PR.

But Canada is not planning its workforce one year at a time.

Federal labour-market projections already extend to 2033, while Canada’s Express Entry system increasingly uses occupation-based categories to respond to labour shortages and other economic priorities.

That gives us evidence we can use to distinguish between three things: jobs that are already experiencing shortages, occupations Canada currently prioritizes through Express Entry, and fields that could become strategically important as Canada’s economy changes.

For prospective immigrants, the bigger question may therefore not be “What is the best job for PR today?” but rather: Where is Canada’s labour market heading next?

What Are the Most In-Demand Jobs in Canada?

Canada’s strongest long-term labour pressures are not spread equally across every occupation.

Employment and Social Development Canada’s Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS) evaluates occupational labour-market conditions using indicators such as vacancies, employment growth and unemployment, and then projects job openings and job seekers.

Its latest projections cover 2024-2033.

Of Canada’s 516 National Occupational Classification occupations, COPS assessed recent labour-market conditions for 485. Looking forward, it identifies:

  • 38 occupations at strong risk of shortage
  • 65 occupations at moderate risk of shortage
  • 365 occupations expected to remain broadly balanced
  • 17 occupations at moderate or strong risk of surplus

That means 103 occupations are projected to face a moderate or strong risk of shortage through 2033.

These shortages are particularly concentrated in healthcare, natural and applied sciences, construction-related fields and transportation.

Healthcare occupations

Healthcare is one of the clearest examples of a shortage that could remain important well beyond 2026.

COPS identifies numerous healthcare occupations at risk of shortage, including:

  • general practitioners and family physicians
  • specialist physicians and surgeons
  • registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
  • nurse practitioners
  • licensed practical nurses
  • pharmacists
  • physiotherapists
  • occupational therapists
  • psychologists
  • medical laboratory technologists
  • medical radiation technologists
  • paramedical occupations
  • nurse aides and patient service associates

The scale of the physician gap illustrates why looking beyond current vacancies matters.

COPS projects approximately 47,800 job openings for general practitioners and family physicians between 2024 and 2033, compared with approximately 25,800 projected job seekers.

That is a structural workforce issue rather than simply a short-term spike in job postings.

It also helps explain why healthcare and social services remain part of Canada’s 2026 Express Entry category-based selection system and why physicians with Canadian work experience received their own category.

Skilled trades and construction

Canada’s housing challenge creates another connection between immigration policy and future workforce demand.

Construction cannot expand simply because governments or businesses decide to build more homes. Canada also needs the people capable of designing, estimating, constructing and maintaining them.

COPS identifies several relevant occupations among those at risk of shortage, including civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical and electronics engineers, construction estimators, engineering technologists and a range of trade occupations.

This is one reason skilled trades remain an Express Entry category in 2026.

For someone researching the most in-demand jobs in Canada, construction and skilled trades should therefore be viewed as more than today’s vacancy numbers. Housing requirements can keep these occupations strategically important over a much longer period.

Education and community services

Canada’s future workforce requirements also extend into classrooms and community services.

COPS identifies occupations such as:

  • secondary school teachers
  • elementary school and kindergarten teachers
  • early childhood educators and assistants
  • teacher assistants
  • social workers
  • social and community service workers
  • coucnselling and specialized therapists
  • home support workers and caregivers

among occupations projected to face shortage risks through 2033.

Education is also one of Canada’s current Express Entry categories.

The overlap between federal labour projections and immigration selection is important: many occupations Canada is currently targeting are connected to labour pressures expected to persist beyond a single immigration year.

Which Jobs Are Currently Prioritized for Canada PR?

There is an important distinction between an occupation being in demand and an occupation being prioritized for permanent residence.

An occupation can face a labour shortage without having a dedicated immigration category. Likewise, working in a targeted occupation does not guarantee an invitation for permanent residence.

In 2026, Canada’s Express Entry category-based selection includes:

Categories addressing labour-market and economic priorities

  • Healthcare and social services occupations
  • STEM occupations
  • Trade occupations
  • Education occupations
  • Transport occupations
  • Physicians with Canadian work experience
  • Researchers with Canadian work experience
  • Senior managers with Canadian work experience
  • Skilled military recruits

French-language proficiency is also a separate Express Entry category.

Candidates must still satisfy the applicable Express Entry and category requirements. Category-based selection changes who IRCC can prioritize within the Express Entry pool; it does not replace the underlying eligibility requirements.

This is why searching for the “best job for PR in Canada” can be misleading.

The better question is whether your education, work experience, language ability and occupation align with an immigration program and with the economic priorities Canada is actually selecting for.

What Jobs Could Be In Demand in Canada in 2027, 2028 and 2029?

No responsible immigration professional can provide a guaranteed list of Canada’s PR priority occupations for 2027-2029 before the government establishes those categories.

However, there is considerably more evidence available than simply guessing.

IRCC says Express Entry categories are chosen using labour-market information and projections, along with input from provinces, territories and stakeholders. Categories are monitored and assessed regularly.

That means ESDC’s projections through 2033 provide useful context for understanding where longer-term pressure could remain.

Healthcare could remain structurally important

Healthcare has both current Express Entry priority and significant projected shortages.

With physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and several technical healthcare occupations appearing in Canada’s long-term shortage projections, healthcare has one of the strongest evidence bases for remaining economically important.

That does not guarantee that the exact 2026 healthcare category or occupation list will remain unchanged through 2029.

It does mean the underlying workforce problem is unlikely to disappear simply because the calendar changes.

Construction and skilled trades could remain tied to housing

Canada’s need for housing makes construction capacity economically significant.

If housing construction remains a federal and provincial priority, workers involved in building, engineering, estimating and maintaining Canada’s physical infrastructure could continue to play an important role.

Again, that is a labour-market outlook, not a prediction of a specific future Express Entry draw.

Transportation could remain important

Transport returned as an Express Entry category in 2026.

Canada’s geography and supply chains make transportation essential to the broader economy, while COPS also identifies transportation-related occupations among areas facing projected labour pressures.

The exact occupations selected by IRCC can change, but transportation now provides another example of how category-based selection can be adjusted as economic priorities evolve.

Canada’s Future Immigration Strategy May Go Beyond Labour Shortages

This may be the most important change to watch after 2026.

Canada originally used category-based selection primarily as a way of targeting candidates who could help respond to specific labour-market needs.

But the 2026 system demonstrates that shortage response is no longer the only objective.

IRCC’s categories now also include researchers and senior managers with Canadian experience, while the government’s consultations explicitly distinguish between categories intended to address long-term labour shortages and categories intended to attract and retain talent.

That distinction could become increasingly important.

Canada does not only need workers for industries experiencing shortages today. It also needs talent capable of building industries that may become economically important tomorrow.

Could AI and Emerging Technology Become More Important for Canada?

Artificial intelligence is an obvious example, but it needs to be discussed carefully.

It would be inaccurate to say that every AI-related occupation is currently experiencing a national labour shortage or that Canada has announced a future Express Entry category specifically for “AI jobs.”

The stronger argument is about strategic talent.

Canada competes internationally for researchers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and highly specialized technical workers. The introduction of a researchers category in 2026 is significant because it demonstrates that immigration selection can be used not only to fill an existing shortage but also to retain specialized talent.

Fields worth watching

Over the longer term, areas that could become increasingly relevant to Canada’s talent strategy include:

Artificial intelligence

AI could create demand for specialized researchers and technical professionals while simultaneously changing the tasks and employment requirements of existing occupations.

The immigration implication is therefore more complex than simply adding “AI jobs” to a shortage list.

Canada may increasingly compete for highly specialized people capable of developing, commercializing and applying AI technologies.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity specialists already appear in ESDC’s list of occupations expected to face shortage conditions through 2033.

This makes cybersecurity particularly interesting because it sits at the intersection of current labour-market need and long-term digital infrastructure requirements.

Engineering and advanced manufacturing

COPS identifies civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, industrial and manufacturing, and geological engineers among occupations facing projected shortage conditions.

These skills also connect to infrastructure, manufacturing capacity and emerging technology industries.

Quantum and research-intensive industries

Canada has also made quantum technology a national strategic priority.

Industries such as quantum computing, biotechnology, semiconductors and other research-intensive sectors may require relatively small numbers of workers compared with healthcare or construction-but those workers can have an outsized effect on intellectual property, productivity and business formation.

Future immigration policy could therefore increasingly distinguish between occupations Canada needs in large numbers and specialized talent Canada needs for strategic reasons.

Why Economic Immigration Will Remain Important

Canada’s 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan provides another important signal.

The federal government plans 380,000 permanent resident admissions in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028.

Within that total, economic immigration is expected to rise to approximately 64% of permanent resident admissions in 2027 and 2028.

The government has explicitly connected those targets to filling labour-market needs while attracting talent needed for economic growth.

At the same time, Canada is reducing planned temporary resident arrivals and has committed to keeping permanent resident admissions below 1% of the population beyond 2027.

That combination suggests that future immigration policy may become more selective rather than simply larger.

In other words, the question may increasingly become not how many economic immigrants Canada admits, but which skills, occupations and types of talent receive priority within a constrained number of admissions.

What Does This Mean If You Are Choosing a Career for Canada PR?

Choosing an occupation solely because it appears on today’s Express Entry list can be risky.

Categories change. Occupations can be added or removed. Eligibility requirements can change. Provincial programs can follow different priorities, and labour-market conditions themselves evolve.

A stronger approach is to look for alignment across several factors:

Long-term labour demand. Is the occupation projected to face shortages over several years rather than experiencing a temporary vacancy spike?

Immigration alignment. Does the occupation currently appear within Express Entry or relevant provincial immigration priorities?

Your actual qualifications. Can you realistically obtain the education, licensing and work experience required for the occupation?

Transferability. Would the career remain valuable even if immigration categories changed?

Future economic relevance. Is the occupation connected to an industry Canada is likely to continue investing in?

A career should make sense independently of immigration. PR policy can change much faster than a person’s education or professional development.

The Bigger Picture: Canada’s In-Demand Jobs After 2026

The most important takeaway from Canada’s labour projections is not a single list of occupations.

It is the emergence of two different economic immigration objectives.

The first is shortage-response immigration: attracting workers who can help staff hospitals, build housing, teach students, operate transportation systems and support essential services.

The second is talent-attraction immigration: competing internationally for researchers, scientists, senior leaders and highly specialized professionals who can contribute to Canada’s future industries.

Canada’s 2026 Express Entry categories already contain elements of both.

That makes it increasingly likely that discussions about the in-demand jobs in Canada for 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 will involve more than a traditional shortage list.

The occupations may change. The categories almost certainly will evolve.

But the underlying direction is becoming clearer: Canada’s economic immigration system is increasingly connecting permanent residence selection with both the workers the country is short of today and the talent it believes its economy will need tomorrow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What jobs are most in demand in Canada?

ESDC’s 2024-2033 projections identify 103 occupations at moderate or strong risk of labour shortage. Shortage risks are concentrated particularly in healthcare, natural and applied sciences and certain construction and transportation occupations. Individual provincial labour markets can differ significantly from the national outlook.

What are the best jobs for PR in Canada?

There is no single “best job” that guarantees Canadian permanent residence. Some occupations currently receive priority through Express Entry category-based selection, but candidates must still meet the requirements of an Express Entry program and the applicable category.

Which jobs will be in demand in Canada in 2027?

Canada has not published an official 2027 “PR jobs list.” However, ESDC projections extending through 2033 indicate persistent shortage risks across numerous healthcare, science, engineering, construction, education and transportation-related occupations. Future Express Entry categories will be determined by IRCC.

Will AI jobs be prioritized for Canada PR?

Canada has not announced an Express Entry category specifically for AI occupations. However, STEM remains a 2026 category, researchers with Canadian work experience have their own category, and Canada continues to pursue broader strategies for attracting specialized talent. Applicants should not assume that an AI-related occupation will automatically receive PR priority.

Does having an in-demand job guarantee PR in Canada?

No. Labour demand and immigration eligibility are different things. A candidate must qualify under an applicable immigration program and meet all relevant requirements. Being employed in an occupation experiencing a shortage does not by itself provide permanent resident status or guarantee an invitation to apply.

Last updated: August 2026

Editorial note: This article distinguishes between confirmed immigration policy, Government of Canada labour-market projections and forward-looking analysis. References to possible priorities after 2026 are analysis based on currently available evidence and should not be interpreted as announced future Express Entry categories.

Disclaimer: Immigration programs, category-based selection rules and occupation lists can change. This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal or immigration advice. Always verify current requirements with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or obtain advice from an authorized Canadian immigration representative before making immigration decisions.

Primary Sources

Need Expert Guidance?

Book a free, no-obligation assessment with our CICC-licensed team. We'll review your situation and recommend the strongest pathway.

Book Assessment →
Share X f in