The Economics and Statistics Division maintains archives of previous publications for accountability purposes, but makes no updates to keep these documents current with the latest data revisions from Statistics Canada. As a result, information in older documents may not be accurate. Please exercise caution when referring to older documents. For the latest information and historical data, please contact the individual listed to the right.
<--- Return to Archive
For additional information relating to this article, please contact:
March 29, 2023RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PERSONNEL, 2020 Following an increase of 13.9% in 2019, the number of personnel engaged in Research and Development (R&D) decreased 2.4% to 4,090 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2020 in Nova Scotia.
Nationally, R&D personnel increased for a fourth consecutive year. Canada R&D personnel increased 4.6% to 276,640 FTEs with large increase in Ontario and British Columbia offsetting declines in six provinces.
Looking at the spread of R&D personnel across Canada, Ontario had the highest proportion at 45.4% followed by Quebec and British Columbia. Nova Scotia accounted for 1.5% of national R&D personnel in 2020.
Higher education sector continued to be the largest employer of R&D personnel in Nova Scotia accounting for 48.4% of all FTEs in 2020. Compared to 2019, the number of R&D personnel in higher education increased 2.6% to 1,980 FTEs. The increase was driven by a 3.0% gain in the number of researchers to 1,370 and no change in technician/support staff of 600.
The business sector was the second largest employer of Nova Scotia’s R&D personnel in 2020. The number of R&D personnel in the business sector decreased 7.7% year-over-year to 1,670 FTEs in 2020. There were fewer researchers, technical/support staff, and on-site research consultants in the businesses sector in 2020.
The federal sector R&D personnel decreased 2.3% year-over-year to 430 FTEs in Nova Scotia in 2020 and accounted for 10.5% of all research and development FTEs.
Nationally, the business enterprise sector continued to be the largest employer of R&D personnel in 2020, accounting for 64.6% of all FTEs in 2020. The higher education sector was the second-largest employer of R&D personnel representing 29.0% of all FTEs.
*There was a small portion of provincial personnel from 2002 to 2004, not shown in the chart
Looking at occupational categories, researchers continued to be Nova Scotia’s largest R&D personnel category in 2020. The number of researchers in Nova Scotia decreased 0.4% year-over-year to 2,720 FTEs in 2020, accounting for 66.5% of all research and development FTEs.
Technicians and support staff was the second largest R&D occupation in Nova Scotia in 2020. When compared to 2019, the number of technicians and support staff declined 2.9% to 1,320 FTEs in 2020.
On-site research consultants accounted for 1.2% of Nova Scotia’s total R&D personnel in 2020 with 50 FTEs. The number of on-site research consultants was not available for the 2000 – 2013 period.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 27-10-0023-01 Personnel engaged in research and development, by geography
<--- Return to Archive
