Meta says it will add 2,500 jobs in Toronto and across Canada. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who announced the jobs himself at a press conference, described this move as a blessing for local Canadian tech talent.

He added, “Our tech talent no longer has to look elsewhere to pursue their careers.” Minister of Economic Development, Vic Fedeli, said in a statement that this move “will boost the innovation sector in the province.” But for Canadian company heads watching the news of another American tech giant putting more “high-paying” jobs in the pipeline, dreams of scaling their own companies have become difficult.

Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, and Netflix have all announced some level of Canadian hiring plans, largely for engineering roles, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Toronto emerged as a stronghold for engineering talent following a notable article in The New York Times that made the city one of the top three tech hubs in North America, behind Miami and Austin. There were 855,000 people working in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector last month, according to data provided by StatCan, up from 780,000 jobs in the industry a year ago and 743,000 workers in March 2020.

During the same period, hourly wages in information and communications technology rose to $40.98, after being $38.23 at the start of the pandemic.

Ben Bergen, Chair of the Canadian Council of Innovators, says that despite Toronto and other Canadian markets having strong tech talent, there was already a national labor shortage in the industry before Meta announced its hiring plans.

CCI estimates indicate that the current number of tech job vacancies in Canada is 200,000 jobs.