Knowledge workers rising rapidly in the labour force.

OTTAWA -- Canada is shifting rapidly towards a knowledge-based economy, a Statistics Canada study claims. The shift is not restricted to narrow areas of interest, such as popularly defined high-tech sectors.

The study found that this expansion is not a new phenomenon and that the proportion of knowledge workers increased steadily over the last three decades, reflecting a growth trend that began long before the high-tech boom of the 1990s.

In 1971, about 14% of Canada's workforce fell into what can be considered high-knowledge occupations. By 2001, this proportion had almost doubled to 25%. Growth also occurred across most industries and mainly in the technology area in the 1990s. Growth was continuous for professional and management occupations. The largest increase occurred among the largest group of knowledge workers, that is, those in professional occupations. In 1971, they accounted for almost 9% of Canada's workforce. Three decades later, they accounted for more than 14%. Note to readers. These occupations fall into three broad classes:

* Professional occupations are characterized by high relative wages and a high proportion of people with university-level education.

* Management occupations are characterized by high relative wages, but a lower proportion of people with university degrees.

* Technical occupations are those with lower relative wage rates, but a high proportion of people with postsecondary education or higher.

Using census data, the study examines the characteristics of this knowledge-based workforce.

* Canada's skilled workers are spread widely across all sectors and regions of Canada.

* A general increase in the importance of skills, knowledge and human capital among many types of firms and industries has occurred.

* The largest concentrations of knowledge workers were in business services (66%) and finance and insurance (42%).

* The proportion of knowledge workers in the mining, oil and gas sector almost doubled, from 14% to 26%.

* In the 1990s, the proportion of workers who were knowledge-based grew faster in service industries than in goods industries.

* A higher proportion of men work in knowledge-based occupations than women. However, over the long run, the proportion of female knowledge workers has grown faster than that of their male counterparts.

* Those in technical occupations experienced the fastest growth in university degrees over the last three decades.

While knowledge-based occupations pay significantly higher wages, the wage advantage enjoyed by knowledge workers relative to other occupations did not increase significantly from 1971 to 2001.

Canadian Economy in Transition Series, Dimensions of occupational changes in Canada's knowledge economy, 1971-1996.

(www.statcan.ca/english/studies/ eaupdate/trans.htm).