Job prospects Secretary-clerk in Ontario

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "secretary-clerk" in Ontario or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Ontario

The recent trends from the past 3 years were updated on July 25, 2025. The job outlooks over the next 3 years were updated on December 10, 2025.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be Moderate for administrative assistants (NOC 13110) in Ontario for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
• Several positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What Types of Employers Are Out There?

• Employed across all industries with the leading shares in educational services, public administration, and health care

What are the Main Trends Affecting Employment?

• Ongoing need for administration and office assistance across businesses and departments will support work in this occupation
• There may be some opportunities for virtual assistants to support multiple clients
• Greater use of technology may temper job growth and change some job functions  

What Skills Do I Need to Succeed?

• Completion of a college diploma in administration or previous experience in a clerical role may be required
• Some employers may require assistants to have experience in a particular industry

What Other Information Will I Find Helpful?

• There may be fewer employment opportunities in educational services during the summer months.

Here are some key facts about administrative assistants in Ontario:

• Approximately 77,350 people work in this occupation.
• Administrative assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Elementary and secondary schools (NAICS 6111): 8%
  • Ambulatory health care services (NAICS 621): 7%
  • Construction (NAICS 23): 6%
  • Monetary Authorities - central bank and securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation and related activities (NAICS 521, 522, 523): 6%
  • Hospitals (NAICS 622): 6%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 78% compared to 81% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 22% compared to 19% for all occupations
• 62% of administrative assistants work all year, while 38% work only part of the year, compared to 63% and 37% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 43 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 7% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 93% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 9% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 28% compared to 25% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 7% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 32% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 23% compared to 24% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 6% compared to 13% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Ontario by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

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