It is interesting and informative to compare the six largest cities (by population) in Canada, plus Winnipeg (due to its regional importance), in terms of the kinds of jobs they provide to their residents. Therefore, the following looks at employment in a number of key industrial categories as a percentage of total employment in each city. For purists, the “total” is consistent between cities in that it includes the same 12 major job categories, although only half of them are analyzed in this story.

The information is presented as a ranking of cities based on each-type-of-job’s percentage of total employment. The results are often as expected (e.g., Ottawa leads in public administration), but there are some surprises as well. The percentage calculations are based on the latest employment numbers available, April 2008.

Public Administration – All Roads Lead to Ottawa

As already indicated, an easy category to begin with is public administration. One would expect Canada’s national capital, Ottawa-Gatineau, to lead the way and it does. The cities that are provincial capitals are also strong in this category, except for Toronto, where there are an awful lot of other kinds of jobs to take into account.

The ranking of public administration jobs to total jobs in each city is: (1) Ottawa-Gatineau (23.3%); (2) Winnipeg (7.0%); (3) Edmonton (6.3%); (4) Montréal (4.7%); (5) Calgary (4.4%); (6) Toronto (4.2%); and (7) Vancouver (3.8%).

Manufacturing – Toronto the Leader

The ranking of the seven cities according to manufacturing employment as a percentage of total employment yields: (1) Toronto (14.0%); (2) Winnipeg (12.5%); (3) Montréal (12.4%); (4) Vancouver (9.4%); (5) Edmonton (8.4%); (6) Calgary (7.5%); and (7) Ottawa-Gatineau (6.1%).

Toronto being in first place and Montréal in third is why Ontario and Québec are referred to as the industrialized east. Winnipeg’s second place position displays a labour market with more similarities to Toronto and Montréal than might have been expected. Alberta’s two major cities, while they are riding the oil boom, are clearly weak in terms of general manufacturing. Edmonton is slightly ahead of Calgary due to its cluster of refineries.

Retail and Wholesale Trade − Remarkable Consistency

The numbers on retail and wholesale trade as a percentage of total employment are quite similar (16% to 18%) from one city to the next, with two exceptions. Edmonton’s 20.3% stands out and has reached that lofty level only recently. It was 16% only six months ago. (There may be a random sampling problem in the latest number.) The low Ottawa figure (13.8%) is probably due to the dominance of the public sector in the overall labour market in our nation’s capital.

The city rankings in retail and wholesale trade are: (1) Edmonton (20.3%); (2) Montréal (17.8%); (3) Winnipeg (16.9%); (4) and (5) Calgary and Toronto (both 16.4%); (6) Vancouver (16.3%); and (7) Ottawa-Gatineau (13.8%).

Finance, Insurance and Real Estate – Toronto is Out Front

The present ranking of FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) sector jobs as a percentage of total jobs is: (1) Toronto (10.0%); (2) Vancouver (8.6%); (3) and (4) Calgary and Winnipeg (both 8.1%); (5) Montréal (7.9%); (6) Edmonton (6.7%); and Ottawa-Gatineau (4.7%).

The banking head offices on Bay Street and the Toronto Stock Exchange give Toronto an advantage in FIRE sector employment. Vancouver has long been a financial capital on the west coast, particularly when it comes to speculative mining plays and dealings with the Far East. Winnipeg has a tradition as a grain exchange and is also a base for major insurance company operations. Calgary has become home to many support services for the oil and gas industry.

Professional Services − Calgary No. 1

The ranking of cities in the professional, scientific and technical services area is: (1) Calgary (15.2%); (2) and (3) Ottawa-Gatineau and Toronto (both 10.6%); (4) Montréal (10.3%); (5) Vancouver (9.9%); (6) Edmonton (8.0%); and (7) Winnipeg (6.2%).

The government’s industrial classification manual says that in this sector, “human capital is the major input”. The key categories of work are legal, accounting, architectural and engineering, advertising, computer systems and scientific research and design. As such, Calgary has become a centre of intellectual-capital beyond what many may realize.

Health Care and Social Assistance − Winnipeg Stands Out

There is only one other category where the share of total employment is consistently in the double digits, health care. In this case, the city rankings are: (1) Winnipeg (13.0%); (2) Montréal (12.4%); (3) Edmonton (11.3%); (4) and (5) Calgary and Ottawa-Gatineau (both 10.6%); (6) Vancouver (9.6%); and (7) Toronto (9.2%).

It is interesting to also observe that employment in education is below that of health care. Jobs in education range from a low of about two-thirds the number of health care jobs in Calgary to an almost equal number of jobs in Vancouver.

Alex Carrick

Find Canadian construction-related economic articles in Canadian Construction Market News and in the Economic Outlook section of Daily Commercial News.

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