The National Graduates Survey also reveals that median salaries for university graduates in computer science five years after they receive their degrees have increased in recent years compared with those of graduates in other fields. The rate of full-time employment for new university computer science graduates climbed by 14 to 17 percentage points above the average for all fields of study between 1984 and 1997. According to the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate for systems analysts was 2.7 percent in 1997. All these figures point to a fairly tight market. In periods of economic expansion the late 1980s, for example labour shortages are clearly general.
Employers seek workers in all ranges of the skills spectrum.
This cyclical alternation between shortages and surpluses is hard to avoid, since it is closely linked to macroeconomic phenomena. As a result, we cannot correct these shortages by increased investment in education and training. The study also compares the average skill level of Canadian workers with workers in other industrialized countries. Results show that Canada compares favourably with many of its major trading competitors in world markets in terms of both investment in human capital and total skills. The study also looks at the minimal skill levels required to succeed in the Canadian labour market.