Manufacturing Employment in Resource Value Chains: a Rural-Urban Comparison from 2001 to 2008

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By Roland Beshiri, Statistics Canada

Highlights

• Employment in manufacturing in Canada has fluctuated over recent decades. The level reached a historically high in 2004 and has been declining since that time.
• In 2008, over one-half (54%) of all Canadian manufacturing workers were employed in the value chain of a resource sector.
• In 2008, resource sector manufacturing employment was relatively more important in rural and small town areas (69% of manufacturing employment and 9% of total employment) compared to larger urban centres (50% of manufacturing employment and 6% of total employment).
• In the 2001 to 2008 period, resource manufacturing employment became a larger share of total manufacturing employment (up from 51% to 54%) because resource manufacturing employment declined less (-6%) compared to the decline of all "other" manufacturing employment (-18%).
• Also, in the 2001 to 2008 period, resource manufacturing employment become relatively more important in rural and small town areas as the decline (-3%) was smaller in rural and small town areas compared to the decline in larger urban centres (-7%).
• Within rural and small town areas at the Canada level, 9% of total employment in 2008 was resource sector manufacturing employment. This ranged from 14% within the rural and small town areas of Quebec to 2% within the rural and small town areas of Saskatchewan.
• Within rural and small town areas in 2008, employment in wood processing accounted for the largest share of resource sector manufacturing employment (43%).