The 2020 CompTIA Cyberprovinces Report

DEFINITION OF THE TECH INDUSTRY

APPENDIX

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM Cyberprovinces utilizes the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) to define the tech industry. The NAICS is a hierarchical system, with six-digit numbers assigned to the most specific industries. The NAICS is constructed around the concept of production and is able to reflect advances in technology, including many new service-oriented businesses. Economic units with similar production processes are classified in the same industry. Because Cyberprovinces analyzes the tech industry by using industry classifications, the report in general focuses on companies and sectors, not individual occupations. NAICS was devised by the United States, Canada, and Mexico to allow industry analysis across all three nations. NAICS codes are revised periodically to reflect the emergence of new industry sectors or sub-sectors. The Cyberprovinces’ NAICS definition of the tech industry has evolved over the years to reflect these changes. Consequently, the data in this report may not be entirely comparable with previous reports.

For occupation analysis, Cyberprovinces utilizes National Occupational Classification (NOC) System, which is a standard used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories.

NET TECH EMPLOYMENT The tech workforce consists of two primary components.. The foundation is the set of technology occupation professionals working in technical positions, such as IT support, network engineering, software development and every related roles. Many of these professionals work for technology companies (52 percent), but many others are employed by organizations across every industry sector in the Canadian economy (48 percent). The second component of the discussion consists of the business professionals employed by technology companies. These professionals play an important role in supporting the development and delivery of the technology products and services used throughout the economy. Thirty percent of the net tech employment total consists of tech industry business professionals.

See page 6 of this report for more details on the concept of Net Tech Employment.

TECH INDUSTRY DEFINITION There are a number of considerations when developing a definition of the technology industry. In some cases, NAICS codes do not perfectly reflect industry dynamics. This can be especially challenging in times of rapid innovation, when new tech sectors emerge in a short period of time. More recently, the degree to which technology has become core to so many industry sectors poses new questions. For example, a technology platform designed to facilitate the online sale of goods may have traditionally been viewed as a retailer, although given the intense use of technology, an argument could be made to classify it as a technology firm. Conceptually, Cyberprovinces focuses on the sectors involved in making, creating, enabling, integrating, or supporting technology, whether as a product or service. At this time, Cyberprovinces does not include industry sectors categorized primarily as users of technology. Cyberprovinces includes 17 NAICS codes in its definition of the tech industry. Broadly these can be thought of in two broad categories: tech manufacturing and tech services. These industries sufficiently represent the technology industry within the framework provided under the NAICS system. TECH OCCUPATION DEFINITION The occupations covered by Cyberprovinces are broadly categorized into core information technology (IT) positions and then engineering, repair, technician, and assembly positions. In total, 25 distinct NOCs are used to define the tech occupations found across every industry sector of the economy.