NOC 2021 · 51111 · TEER 1
Authors and writers (except technical)
Unit group 51111 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
Check which category draws this code qualifies for
What this group covers
Authors and writers plan, research and write books, scripts, storyboards, plays, essays, speeches and other non-journalistic articles for publication or presentation. They are employed by advertising agencies, governments, large corporations, private consulting firms, publishing firms, multimedia/new-media companies and other establishments, or they may be self-employed.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- ad writer
- advertising copywriter
- advertising writer
- author
- biographer
- blogger
- content creator - writing
- content writer (except technical)
- copywriter
- crossword puzzle maker
- designer and script writer
- dialogue writer
- dubbing dialogue writer
- essayist
- feature writer
- fiction writer
- ghost writer
- humorist-author
- interactive media writer
- lexicographer
- literary writer
- multimedia author
- multimedia script writer
- multimedia writer
- new media writer
- novelist
- playwright
- poet
- publicity writer
- radio writer
- rewriter
- screen writer
- script and dialogue writer
- script writer
- serial story writer
- serial writer
- short story writer
- speech writer
- sports writer - novels and books
- storyboarder
- teleplay writer - screenwriter
- television writer
- Web content specialist
- writer
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$36.81 an hour
Low $25.48, high $53.00
Where it pays most
- Toronto · Ontario$40.38
- Calgary · Alberta$38.56
- Edmonton · Alberta$38.56
- Ottawa · Ontario$37.42
- Lanaudière · Quebec$36.76
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $31.96 | $22.23 – $46.74 | Undetermined |
| Prince Edward Island | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nova Scotia | $33.00 | $25.00 – $40.00 | Undetermined |
| New Brunswick | $32.63 | $21.00 – $45.67 | Undetermined |
| Quebec | $36.00 | $26.92 – $53.00 | Undetermined |
| Ontario | $40.38 | $25.82 – $53.00 | Undetermined |
| Manitoba | $32.34 | $22.12 – $39.40 | Undetermined |
| Saskatchewan | $34.37 | $21.04 – $48.01 | Good |
| Alberta | $38.56 | $20.00 – $55.00 | Undetermined |
| British Columbia | $36.44 | $20.75 – $68.75 | Undetermined |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 28 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $31.47 | $23.25 – $47.15 | Undetermined |
| Moncton--Richibucto | New Brunswick | $32.20 | $21.15 – $48.94 | Undetermined |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $36.00 | $26.92 – $53.00 | Undetermined |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | $35.85 | $27.56 – $54.90 | Undetermined |
| Estrie | Quebec | $32.45 | $23.86 – $50.03 | Undetermined |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $33.18 | $24.97 – $51.05 | Undetermined |
| Montréal | Quebec | $36.00 | $26.92 – $39.41 | Undetermined |
| Laval | Quebec | $34.25 | $25.40 – $54.01 | Undetermined |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $36.76 | $26.29 – $55.07 | Undetermined |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $33.98 | $24.29 – $49.85 | Undetermined |
| Outaouais | Quebec | $35.79 | $26.73 – $52.31 | Undetermined |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $37.42 | $25.53 – $56.42 | Undetermined |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | $34.84 | $26.18 – $50.85 | Undetermined |
| Toronto | Ontario | $40.38 | $27.18 – $53.00 | Undetermined |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $34.52 | $25.90 – $51.48 | Undetermined |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $34.02 | $23.01 – $52.28 | Undetermined |
| London | Ontario | $34.00 | $24.48 – $51.82 | Undetermined |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | $30.87 | $21.62 – $43.78 | Undetermined |
| Stratford--Bruce Peninsula | Ontario | $35.28 | $23.54 – $62.97 | Undetermined |
| Northeast | Ontario | $30.94 | $21.45 – $41.91 | Undetermined |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $31.01 | $23.84 – $46.67 | Moderate |
| Regina--Moose Mountain | Saskatchewan | $35.43 | $24.41 – $52.49 | Undetermined |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | $34.45 | $24.73 – $51.67 | Good |
| Calgary | Alberta | $38.56 | $20.00 – $55.00 | Undetermined |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $38.56 | $20.00 – $55.00 | Undetermined |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | British Columbia | $34.68 | $24.35 – $55.72 | Undetermined |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $36.25 | $26.02 – $58.55 | Undetermined |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | $32.89 | $23.66 – $55.05 | Undetermined |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024) · Employment Insurance Survey Data (2023-2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.