Construction Sector Council image
The Industry Home Who We Are What We Do Careers
What's New The Industry Contact Us
Site Map Francais
Employment Levels and Distribution
Labour Group Participation
Labour Group Participation
Industry-related Links
image

The industry

A Snapshot of the Construction Industry

As one of Canada’s largest industries, construction plays a vital role in making Canada one of the best places in the world to live, work, and raise a family.

Our homes, offices and schools; the bridges, roads and sidewalks that we use; the factories that produce food and motor vehicles: all were built and put in place by the men and women who work in the construction industry. By providing infrastructure and employment, the industry is essential to the progress of the Canadian economy.

In fact, the industry represents 12% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when considering its impacts on all sectors of the economy, and it maintains and repairs over $5 trillion in assets.

There are four general categories of construction work:

image

New Home Building and Renovation
refers to the construction or remodeling and renovation of single-family and multi-family residential buildings.

image

Heavy Industrial
refers to the construction of factories, such as cement, automotive or power plants.

image

Institutional and Commercial
construction involves the construction of commercial and institutional buildings and related structures, such as stadiums, grain elevators, and indoor swimming pools.

image

Civil Engineering
construction includes entire engineering projects, such as highways, dams, water and sewer lines, power and communication lines, and bridges.


Statistical highlights
  • One out of 16 workers employed in Canada earns a living in the construction industry.
  • More than one million Canadian men and women are employed in many diverse construction trades and professions.
  • Construction workers are involved in the installation, repair or renovation of more than $150 billion of work every year.
  • There are over 260,000 firms in the construction industry: over 65,000 in residential construction and 150,000 in trade contracting industry.
  • Though the industry stands out as one of the major employers of workers, the size of the average construction firm is quite small. In the residential sector, nearly 90% of firms have less than 5 employees. In the non-residential sector, almost 70% of the firms have 5 employees or less.
  • Construction investment represents approximately 12% of annual GDP.
  • Construction lead the industrial employment growth in Canadian economy by increasing 7.1% (68,000 workers) between 2004 and 2005
  • Canada’s annual GDP growth rate in 2005 was 3.2% for all industries, and 4.7% for construction.
  • While total employment in Canada grew at a rate of 1.4% in 2005, construction employment had a solid growth rate of more than 7%, with respect to 2004
  • The average age of a construction worker in May, 2001 was 41 years old.
  • In 2005, most construction workers were located in Ontario (39%), followed by Quebec (18%), and British Columbia and Alberta (16%).

Sources:

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.