Mechanical Engineering Salary Guide 2017

As we enter the latter end of the decade, it’s a good time to be an experienced engineer with industry specific knowledge in Canada. Those with 5-10+ years on the job are in high demand, so much so that employers routinely decry the lack of optimal job candidates. As a result, well-healed P.Engs have found their job security strengthen in recent years, a condition that will only grow stronger in the coming decade.

According to a study conducted by Engineers Canada, the market for mechanical engineers will hold at approximately 2,100 job openings per year until 2020. More than half (about 60 percent) of those jobs will become available as older Canadian engineers retire or otherwise leave the market. Past 2020, however, the number of new mechanical engineering jobs is expected to fall off considerably (1,400 annually) until 2025 due to a decrease in industry expansion.

The following salary ranges, job market analysis and other labour statistics are limited to the mechanical engineering discipline in major cities across Canada. This data is a small subset adapted from Randstad Engineering’s comprehensive Randstad Canada 2017 Engineering Salary Guide, which includes competitive salary ranges for most engineering disciplines and engineering related fields.

For example, in the mechanical section alone, the full report includes salary data for HVAC engineers, mechanical designers, mechanical drafters and mechanical engineering technicians in addition to mechanical engineers. Those interested can download the full analysis from Randstad’s web site below.

Salary information is based on research from ERI (Economic Research Institute) with further validated by Randstad Canada’s industry experts. For each position, salary ranges correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles for entry, mid and senior levels (Entry: 1-3 years’ experience; Mid-level: 4-7 years; Senior-level: 8-12 years). These numbers represent annual base salaries before benefits, expressed in thousands of dollars.

In addition to pure salary, Randstad’s report also breaks down the labor market by province and in Canada’s largest engineering markets. But no matter what the discipline or the location its practiced, one thing is clear the report says: “Continuous learning, development of soft skills, embracing new technologies and managing expectations are critical to engineers determined to stay employed and to their organizations needing to remain competitive, profitable and growing.”

www.randstad.ca/salary-guides