Overview

Abstract (English)

Key Findings * In 2016, 83.2% of workers in Ontario and 81.8% of those in Quebec were employed in services. Between 2006 and 2016, health care and social assistance accounted for the largest increasesin service sector employment in both provinces. * The share of workers employed in manufacturing declined in both provinces. It declined from 14.7% in 2006 to 10.4% in 2016 in Ontario and from 15.5% to 11.6% in Quebec. Despite the decline, manufacturing was still the third largest industrial sector by employment in both provinces in 2016. * The declining manufacturing and growing health care and social assistance sectorsare the top two sectors of employment for foreign-born workers in Ontario and Quebec. Among Canadian-born workers, retail trade and health care and social assistance services are the top two sectorsof employment. * In Canada’s two major gateway cities, the employment for foreign-born workers has a bi-modal quality. On the one hand, many workers are concentrated in the manufacturing and accommodation and food servicessectors where many jobs do not require post-secondary education or strong language skills. On the other hand, a large share of foreign-born workers is employed in health care and social assistance, as well as professional and technical services where some post-secondary training is oftenrequired. * The top three industries of employment for foreign-born workers in Toronto are manufacturing (13%), retail trade (10.8%) and professional and technical services (10.6%). In Montreal, health care and social assistance employ the largest proportion (14.6%) of foreign-born workers followed by manufacturing (13%) and retail trade(11.2%). * These broad trends in employment inOntario and Quebec are not always found in medium-size cities likeOttawa-Gatineau, Windsor, Quebec City and Sherbrooke. To varying degrees, each city is characterized by a less diversified industrial structure than is true of the province as a whole or the Toronto and Montreal metropolitan areas. * Ottawa-Gatineau is dominated by public sector employment with nearly one-quarter of the labour force working in public administration. In 2016, the share of Canadian-born workers (24.3%) in this sector was much greater than that of foreign-born workers (18.6%). * In Quebec City,a large proportion of the labour force was employed in public administration sector (13%), but foreign-born workers were under-represented in this sector. The number of foreign-born workers in the sector was also dwarfed by the Canadian-born population sincethe foreign-born population in Quebec Cityis small. * Whether Canadian-or foreign-born, workers in Windsor are much more likely to be employed in manufacturing than elsewhere in Ontario. Manufacturing provided jobs for almost one-quarter of foreign-born workers and 22.5% of Canadian-born workers, a reflection ofthe continuing importance of goods production in Windsor. * With a large percentage of its labour force working in health care and social assistance (17.7%), Sherbrooke is distinguishedfrom other CMAs. In 2016, a slightly lower proportion of foreign-born (16.2%) than Canadian-born workers were employed in the sector.

Abstract (French)

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