Between January 2023 and November 2025, Canada issued 603,730 post-graduation work permits. IRCC has released that figure broken down by field of study, and the result is a map of what international students actually studied in Canada.
The trend: a steady decline
- 2023: 243,780
- 2024: 205,340 (down 16%)
- 2025 (Jan–Nov): 154,610
The 2025 figure covers eleven months. Extended to a full year it lands near 168,665 — roughly 18% below 2024, and about 31% below 2023.
Where the permits went
- Business/Commerce: 117,095
- Business, Management, Marketing: 113,825
- Computing/IT: 91,140
- Other: 55,070
- Applied Science: 47,205
- Arts/Humanities/Social Science: 44,990
- Health Sciences: 42,020
- Hospitality/Tourism: 25,780
The two business categories together account for 230,920 permits — 38% of the total. Computing/IT follows at 15%.
More than half of every PGWP issued in Canada went to a business or IT graduate.
Which fields fell hardest
The most revealing part of the data is how unevenly the decline landed. Annualising 2025 for a like-for-like comparison against 2024:
Steepest declines:
- Fine, visual and performing arts: −37%
- ESL/FSL: −36%
- Applied Science: −34%
- General Sciences: −31%
- Architecture: −31%
Most resilient:
- Management and marketing: −6%
- Flight training: −8%
- Health sciences: −11%
- Trades and vocational: −12%
What the pattern shows
The fields holding up best — health, trades, flight training — are precisely those that overlap with Canada’s shortage occupation lists.
The fields falling fastest sit largely in categories the field-of-study requirement, applied from November 2024 to many non-degree programs, does not cover.
The 34% drop in Applied Science is the notable outlier — a field usually assumed to be safe. It indicates the effect was not confined to short college programs.
If you have not chosen a program yet
- The name of the field is not the test. What matters is whether the specific program matches the official eligible-field list.
- Credential level is decisive. Degree and non-degree programs are not governed by the same rules.
- Check before you enrol, not after you graduate. Enrolment is the last point at which this is still changeable.
- Popularity is not protection. Business carries the largest volume of any field and still fell 19%.
Source
Figures from IRCC operational data, compiled by OPP-DART-2026-38691, source IRCC-EDW (CBR) refreshed 2 March 2026, covering 1 January 2023 to 30 November 2025. Field of study is recorded from the most recent study permit issued before the PGWP application. The annualised 2025 figure is our calculation.
Related reading
- PGWP refusals in 2025: the number most reports get wrong
- Co-op work permits are gone — but one line on your study permit decides it
