Job prospects Production Helper in Ontario

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "production helper" 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 Limited for labourers in food and beverage processing (NOC 95106) in Ontario for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

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

What Types of Employers Are Out There?

• Food manufacturing, particularly in meat product manufacturing and bakeries and tortilla manufacturing
• Food merchant wholesalers

What are the Main Trends Affecting Employment?

• Food processing is a large sector in Ontario and has been expanding for several years, which should generally result in stable job prospects
• However, there have been recent layoffs and closures at some food production facilities
• Staff turnover is expected to be a notable source of job openings since this occupation has relatively low requirements for entry.

Here are some key facts about labourers in food and beverage processing in Ontario:

• Approximately 19,900 people work in this occupation.
• Labourers in food and beverage processing mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Food, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing (NAICS 311, 312): 68%
  • Wholesale trade (NAICS 41): 8%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 86% compared to 81% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 14% compared to 19% for all occupations
• 56% of labourers in food and beverage processing work all year, while 44% 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 40 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• Less than 5% of labourers in food and beverage processing are self-employed compared to an average of 15% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 47% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 53% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 25% compared to 9% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 43% compared to 25% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 5% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 14% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 10% compared to 24% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% 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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