Executive Assistant

The employment outlook will be Moderate for executive assistants (NOC 12100) in Nova Scotia 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 small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

While job growth and retirements are expected to drive opportunities, some competition for positions is likely to occur due to individuals in related occupations, such as administrative officers, looking to move up and further their career. This should lead to fairly balanced job prospects for this occupation. In addition, internal hiring for Executive Assistants is common within firms, limiting opportunities for external candidates.

Here are some key facts about executive assistants in Nova Scotia:

• Approximately 900 people work in this occupation.
• Executive assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Provincial and territorial public administration (NAICS 912): 14%
  • Federal government public administration (NAICS 911): 13%
  • Religious, grant-making, civic, and professional and similar organizations (NAICS 813): 8%
  • Monetary Authorities - central bank and securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation and related activities (NAICS 521, 522, 523): 8%
  • Local, municipal, regional, aboriginal and other public administration (NAICS 913-919): 7%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 94% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 6% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 88% of executive assistants work all year, while 12% work only part of the year, compared to 62% and 38% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 49 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• Less than 5% of executive assistants are self-employed compared to an average of 11% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 11% compared to 51% for all occupations
  • Women: 89% compared to 49% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 10% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 19% compared to 27% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 11% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 35% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 24% compared to 20% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 9% compared to 10% for all occupations