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New Brunswick’s digital transformation depends on a reliable supply of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) talent – but building that talent base is not straightforward. Smaller provinces like New Brunswick often compete with larger metropolitan centres that offer deeper labour markets, higher wages, and broader career pathways. Against this backdrop, understanding how ICT workers enter, move through, and remain in New Brunswick’s labour force has become increasingly important.

To help illuminate these dynamics, DataNB undertook a multi‑year research program examining the province’s ICT labour market from multiple angles. Rather than focusing on a single source of talent or labour market outcome, the project brings together evidence on labour demand, graduate supply, immigration pathways, and long‑term retention. The result is a comprehensive picture of how ICT talent flows into the province — and how those flows change over time.

Across the research program, a clear pattern emerges. Demand for ICT workers in New Brunswick has grown and evolved, with employers increasingly seeking candidates who hold advanced technical training or specialized credentials. At the same time, the province draws on several key sources of ICT talent: graduates from public post‑secondary institutions, permanent residents with ICT skills, temporary foreign workers, and interprovincial migrants. Each group contributes differently to the workforce, and each faces distinct opportunities and pressures that shape whether they stay in the province or move elsewhere.

Retention is where the story becomes more complex. University graduates, ICT‑skilled immigrants, and temporary foreign workers all show strong short‑term attachment to New Brunswick, but many eventually leave — possibly pulled toward larger labour markets with more extensive career ladders. In contrast, college graduates and immigrants from the Provincial Nominee Program tend to remain in the province at higher rates, underscoring the importance of local ties, structured pathways, and early labour‑market integration.

This research program brings together a summary and four complementary reports that, viewed as a whole, offer the most comprehensive picture to date of New Brunswick’s ICT workforce:

• Summary report: Labour market trends and dynamics in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in New Brunswick (EN/FR)
• Profiling the demand for jobs in the ICT sector in New Brunswick
• Labour supply, employment and earnings in New Brunswick’s ICT sector
• Retention of ICT graduates and immigrants in New Brunswick
• Transition to permanent residency and retention of ICT‑skilled temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick

Together, they trace how ICT talent enters the province, how demand is evolving, and which groups are most likely to build long‑term careers here. This integrated evidence base equips decision makers with the insight needed to strengthen New Brunswick’s digital workforce and support long‑term competitiveness in a rapidly changing sector.