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workforceA highly educated, bilingual workforce

One of Kingston´s key strengths is its highly educated population.  Among the 20 - 65 age group, 79% of Kingstonians have some post secondary education compared to 66% of Canadians.  And among the 20 - 44 age group, about 54% of our citizens are graduates holding a university or college certificate, diploma or degree.

A recent study ranked Kingston 7th out of 26 Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) in terms of percentage of the population 18 and older with a Bachelor´s degree or higher.  This relatively strong showing "reflects the presence of a highly educated workforce in the post-secondary education sector, hospitals, government services, and other knowledge-intensive activities." (Source: Competing on Creativity: An Analysis of Kingston, Ontario. Meric Gertler and Tara Vinodrai.  University of Toronto, May, 2003)

Kingston also has a solid bilingual workforce with about 15% fluent in both English and French.  This was a significant factor in 3 businesses - StarTek, Assurant Group, and Bell Canada recently locating operations in Kingston.

Kingston is home to internationally recognized Queen´s University and Royal Military College, two medical teaching hospitals - Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu, and a local community college - St. Lawrence College.