The notion that 90 per cent of laid-off BlackBerry workers have found work elsewhere is a common refrain in Waterloo.

In reality, that figure comes from data specific to former employees who sought help through Communitech’s Tech Jobs Connex program and achieved “positive outcomes.”

It also doesn’t specify that tech workers must find another job in the tech sector – or find another job at all – to be counted as a “positive outcome,” as that description also includes those who went back to school, started businesses of their own or took more training courses.

From its inception in 2012, Tech Jobs Connex assisted about 2,000 former local BlackBerry employees – only a portion of the total.

Beth Bailey, the program’s manager, says she wouldn’t be surprised if the 90 per cent figure applied to the overall total – although she has no way to know for sure.

“We do know anecdotally that a lot of people have gone on to find other roles, but I can’t speak to the percentage,” she said.

Fraser Gibbs made use of Tech Job Connex after receiving his layoff notice in March – following a 14-year career that saw him rise through the company to become BlackBerry’s director of wireless development.

He’s found new life at eleven-x, a wireless technology development firm – and says that if anything, he’d expect the 90 per cent figure to be low.

“Out of our team, I would say closer to 97 per cent of people have found their next thing,” he said.

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky, himself a former BlackBerry executive laid off in 2012 and Tech Job Connex attendee, says the anecdotal evidence he sees also suggests few of his previous coworkers are struggling to move on with their lives.

He says many of those he knows switched industries – perhaps to finance or insurance – others took early retirement, and yet others found new jobs in the tech industry.

“I think the (program) was really needed at one point in time, and really did a great job of helping people improve their resumes,” he said.

Another factor many use to bolster claims that BlackBerry layoff victims found work elsewhere is data on Waterloo Region’s housing market.

“If there was a mass exodus of BlackBerry workers, we might expect to see … many more homes come on the market, but home prices have been stable,” said Janette MacDonald, an economic development analyst who has done work for local governments.

Statistics Canada doesn’t directly shed any light on the matter of where former employees of the smartphone maker ended up.

While the agency does break down its jobs figures by industry, local tech firms are classified in several different ways.

Some show up as professional services.

Others, like OpenText, are classified under ‘information and culture.’

And BlackBerry – like Aeryon Labs, Clearpath Robotics and others – is considered a manufacturer.

Waterloo Region has added 4,000 manufacturing jobs over the past year. It’s not clear exactly which sectors are behind that increase.

“Employment growth in manufacturing could come from traditional manufacturing; it could come from food or it could come from tech,” said MacDonald.

On Wednesday, BlackBerry unveiled its BlackBerry Classic phone, which is aimed at attracting former customers who have stopped buying from the Waterloo-based company.

Friday, the company will announce its results for the third quarter of 2014.