MNI BRIEF: StatsCan Reviews Factory Jobs and U.S. Demand
MNI (OTTAWA) - Following is the text of a Statistics Canada review of manufacturing and U.S. exports, released Friday as part of the monthly employment report:
In the spotlight: The manufacturing sector, which has dependencies on US demand for Canadian exports, accounts for 8.9% of total employment in Canada
Employment in manufacturing may be particularly susceptible to changes in tariffs and foreign demand; the sector
has the largest number of jobs dependent on US demand for Canadian exports. An estimated 641,000 or 39.4% of
jobs in manufacturing depend on US demand for Canadian exports (based on the latest available estimates on
value added in exports from the System of Macroeconomic Accounts).
According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 1.9 million people employed in manufacturing in January,
comprising 8.9% of total employment—the fourth largest sector in Canada. Manufacturing employment, as a total
share of employment, has trended down over the years, particularly in the 2000s, but has been more stable
since 2010.
In January, private sector employees in manufacturing were more likely to work in full-time (95.3%) and permanent
(95.3%) jobs compared with employees across all industries (82.6% of jobs were full-time and 89.6% of jobs were
permanent). The union coverage rate for private sector employees in manufacturing (21.8%) remained higher than
the average for all private sector employees (14.9%) but was down from the rate of 33.8% recorded in
January 2002 (three-month moving averages, not seasonally adjusted).
In January 2025, the average hourly wage for private sector employees working in manufacturing was $34.80,
slightly higher than the average of $33.97 for all private sector employees. On a year-over-year basis, wages were
up 2.2% for employees in manufacturing (not seasonally adjusted).
Automotive manufacturing industries are highly integrated with US supply chains; an estimated 68.3% of jobs in
these industries depend on US demand for Canadian exports. People working in automotive manufacturing (which
includes motor vehicle manufacturing, motor vehicle parts manufacturing and motor vehicle body and trailer
manufacturing) were concentrated in Southern Ontario, particularly in the economic regions of Toronto (which
accounted for 27.7% of all auto workers), Kitchener–Waterloo–Barrie (19.8%) and Windsor-Sarnia (14.8%) in
January. In Windsor-Sarnia, automotive manufacturing industries accounted for 38.3% of manufacturing
employment and 7.3% of total employment (three-month moving averages, not seasonally adjusted).
Over one-quarter (26.5%) of automotive manufacturing employees were covered by a collective bargaining
agreement in January 2025. In comparison, the union coverage rate in automotive industries was nearly twice as
high in January 2002 (49.9%).
Food manufacturing was the largest manufacturing subsector overall and accounted for 16.4% of all manufacturing
employment in January. It was also the largest manufacturing subsector across all provinces, except in Ontario.
This subsector is less reliant on foreign demand, with 28.8% of jobs dependent on US demand for Canadian
exports.