Plumber

The employment outlook will be Limited for plumbers (NOC 72300) in British Columbia for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Here are some key facts about plumbers in British Columbia:

• Approximately 10,400 people work in this occupation.
• Plumbers mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Construction (NAICS 23): 91%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 94% compared to 78% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 6% compared to 22% for all occupations
• 61% of plumbers work all year, while 39% work only part of the year, compared to 61% and 39% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 44 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• 21% of plumbers are self-employed compared to an average of 17% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: more than 95% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: less than 5% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 18% compared to 28% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 57% compared to 13% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 13% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: less than 5% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 12% for all occupations