Hardest Jobs to Obtain in Canada

These rankings show how hard it is to find a job in each career in Canada — not how hard the work is, or how much schooling it requires. They come from Canada’s official projections (the Canadian Occupational Projection System, COPS) for each occupation from 2024 to 2033. First come the careers whose occupation group is projected to have more job seekers than job openings — a “risk of surplus” — with a strong risk of surplus ahead of a moderate one. All the other careers follow in order of the job openings projected for their occupation: new jobs, and jobs left open by people retiring or moving on. Within each part of the list, the fewest openings ranks hardest.

Difficulty here is different from demand. A high-demand field like nursing is easy to get hired in because openings outnumber qualified applicants. A field with few openings can still be worth it, so read the outlook beside each career too. If you’re drawn to a hard-to-enter career, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue it — it means going in clear-eyed, with backup plans and realistic timelines.

Job openings and the outlook are national figures for the whole occupation group (NOC 2021), so careers in the same group share a figure and a rank. Careers ranked 1 to 58 are marked Extremely Hard, ranks 59 to 99 Very Hard, and rank 100 and below Hard. They reflect general market patterns, not your individual odds — talent, location, timing, and persistence all shift the picture. Job openings and outlook: the Canadian Occupational Projection System 2024–2033. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.