Bachelor of Commerce (Digital Marketing) - Postsecondary ...

employers for whom email contact information was available, inviting them to participate in the
research. The email invitation was followed up by a telephone call from Academica Group approximately
one week following the initial request. Employers for whom email addresses were not available received
a telephone invitation to participate, with information about the study emailed on request.
In total, interviews were conducted with 47 representatives of medium and large businesses and
organizations from sectors representative of the regional economy, and eight representatives of local
and regional economic development associations. Each interview lasted approximately 30‐45 minutes.
Careful notes were taken, with efforts made to record verbatim responses where‐ever possible.
Respondent Profile
As shown in Table 1 below, close to three‐quarters of Employers who participated in the interviews
(n=40) were involved in the services sector and one‐quarter were from manufacturing (n=13). Among
service sector employers about one‐third (n=13) were involved in the professional, scientific and
technical sector, and 15% were in health care and social assistance (n=6).
Table 1 ‐ Service Sector Employer Classifications
Classification n Percent
Professional, Scientific, and Technical 13 32.5
Health Care and Social Assistance 6 15.0
Other 4 10.0
Transportation and Warehousing 4 10.0
Finance and Insurance 4 10.0
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation 3 7.5
Educational Services 3 7.5
Public Administration 2 5.0
Retail 2 5.0
Information and Cultural Industries 2 5.0
Wholesale 1 2.5
Real Estate and Rental Leasing 1 2.5
Accommodation and Food Services 1 2.5
Three‐quarters of Employers reported more than 100 employees, including more than one‐quarter
representing very large firms with at least 500 employees (Figure 1).
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