Construction Sector Council

Economic development in Canada relies to a great extent on a highly-skilled construction workforce.

That’s one of the reasons the Construction Sector Council (CSC) is working to find solutions to the looming labour supply shortage in the construction industry.

Using 2001 Census data, this report focuses on the current Aboriginal population as a source of labour in the construction industry. Separate research papers prepared by the CSC have looked at other labour supplies, such as immigrants and women.

Aboriginals in the Canadian workforce
Aboriginals are making a considerable contribution to Canada’s economic development and particularly to the construction industry.

Statistics Canada refers to Aboriginals as those persons who reported identifying with at least one Aboriginal group, i.e. North American Indian, Métis or Inuit (Eskimo), and/or those who reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian, as defined by the Indian Act of Canada and/or who were members of an Indian Band or First Nation¹.

The Aboriginal population is growing faster than other segments of Canadian society, with more than 50% under 15 years of age. By 2006, there will be a working population of 920,000 – the largest untapped labour pool in the country! As shown in Table 1, Aboriginals represented 2% of the employment in Canada in 2001. Construction had higher Aboriginal employment participation at 3%.

Table 1
Participation of Aboriginals in all Occupations’ Labour Population
Canada Census 2001

Industries	Employed	Unemployed
All Industries	315,360 (2%)	52,940 (6%)
Construction	22,950 (3%)	7,235 (9%)
Other Industries	292,405 (2%)	45,710 (6%)

Aboriginal participation in the construction industry
Graph 1 shows that there were important differences between the distribution of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal labour force across Canada, both in construction and in all industries.

While the share of the non-Aboriginal labour force in the construction industry in Ontario was 38%, the Aboriginal share reached only 21%. Yet Ontario had the highest share (22%) of the Aboriginal labour force distribution among provinces in all industries in Canada.

In Alberta, the provincial Aboriginal participation in all industries was 17%, whereas in the construction industry it was 23% – the largest Aboriginal workforce.

Aboriginal representation in the total labour force was also much higher in the prairies (mainly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and in the territories.

The Prairies accounted for almost one-half (47%) of the construction industry’s Aboriginal labour force, while the territories and the Atlantic provinces had a combined representation of 11% (6% and 5% respectively).

Quebec’s portion of the construction labour force was very different among the two groups (20% of non-Aboriginals and 6% of Aboriginals).

Graph 1
Labour Force Distribution of Aboriginals and Non-Aboriginals in the Construction and All Industries by Province
Canada 2001

Aboriginal Provincial Participation by Trades
Most of the Aboriginal labour force distribution by trades followed the same pattern among provinces. However, there are some trades with a higher concentration in some provinces than in others. Table 2 shows how Aboriginal labour force distribution among provinces for some of the trades differed from that of the total Aboriginal labour force.

Table 2
Trade Share of Aboriginal Labour Force by Province
Canada 2001*

Trades	CA	Atlantic	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC	Territ.
Bricklayers	340	6%	9%	41%	9%	9%	18%	6%	0%
Tilesetters	65	0%	23%	15%	15%	0%	15%	23%	0%
Roofers and shinglers	1,165	2%	2%	21%	20%	19%	18%	17%	2%
Insulators	220	0%	7%	7%	0%	25%	52%	9%	0%
Heavy-duty equipment mechanics	170	0%	9%	15%	9%	6%	38%	15%	12%
Crane Operators	115	0%	0%	17%	30%	9%	30%	13%	0%
Welders and Soldering Machine Operators	400	3%	5%	16%	8%	9%	40%	18%	3%
Truck drivers	725	7%	4%	25%	10%	9%	28%	9%	8%
All trades	28,700	5%	6%	20%	12%	11%	23%	16%	6%

* Percentages represent the provincial Aboriginal construction labour force share out of the Canadian Aboriginal labour force. Some of the summation totals are not 100% due to rounding processes used in the Census.

Participation of Aboriginals by Trades and Related Occupations
In order to analyze the highest Aboriginal workforce concentration in trades, the construction industry was broken down into 26 categories. We will make an analysis of those occupations that had the highest participation of Aboriginals. Tables 3 and 4 show the participation break-downs, by province and territory, of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workforces.

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Table 3
Trades with the Highest Concentrations of Aboriginal Labour Force
Canada 2001**

Trades	CA	Atlantic	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC	Territ.
Carpenters*	5,460 19%	26%	27%	19%	21%	20%	13%	18%	26%
Heavy equip. operators	2,340 8%	6%	6%	5%	8%	11%	10%	8%	11%
Trades helpers and labourers	5,475 19%	22%	20%	21%	18%	17%	19%	19%	18%
Other occupations	15,425 54%	46%	47%	56%	53%	52%	57%	55%	45%

*Includes cabinetmakers.
** Percentages represent the concentration out of the total Aboriginal labour force in the construction industry.

Table 4
Non-Aboriginal Concentration in the Trades that Have the Highest Concentrations of Aboriginal Labour Force

Trades	CA	Atlantic	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC	Territ.
Carpenters*	98,345 12%	17%	13%	11%	12%	13%	10%	15%	19%
Heavy equip. operators	38,360 5%	8%	4%	3%	6%	9%	6%	5%	9%
Trades helpers and labourers	85,765 11%	16%	8%	12%	11%	11%	10%	9%	8%
Other occupations	570,025 72%	59%	74%	74%	71%	66%	74%	71%	64%

*Includes cabinetmakers.

Most of the Aboriginals in the construction industry workforce were carpenters, or construction trades helpers and labourers, who each accounted for 19% of the total Aboriginal workforce. There were more Aboriginal carpenters in Quebec (27%), in the Atlantic (26%) and in the territories (26%), while Alberta had the lowest participation rate with 13% of the Aboriginal workforce, compared to the rest of the provinces. All these concentrations were much larger than those of non-Aboriginals in each province.

A good proportion of the Aboriginal workforce was in the heavy equipment operators trade. On average they represented 8% of the total Aboriginal workforce in the construction industry in Canada. This share was of similar magnitude among provinces.

As noted above, Aboriginals represented around 4% of the construction labour force. However, depending on the trade, this participation varies from 1% to 7%. The lowest participation was in the trade of elevator constructors and mechanics, with only 1% Aboriginal representation. On the other hand, Aboriginals accounted for 7% of roofers and shinglers.

Age Distribution
According to Statistics Canada, the median age of the total Aboriginal population in Canada, in 2001, was 24.7 years, while that of the non-Aboriginal population was at an all-time high of 37.7 years². In the construction industry, the Aboriginal workforce was younger than the non-Aboriginal workforce. The average age of the Aboriginal labour force in construction was 36.4 years, whereas that of non-Aboriginals was 39.4 years.

Graph 2
Age Distribution of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Workers in the Construction Sector
Canada 2001

Graph 2 shows the age distribution of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workforce in the construction industry in 2001. The Aboriginal age distribution did not follow a normal pattern. For example, in the age segment 15 to 39, the portion of Aboriginal workers was higher than that of non-Aboriginal workers. This suggests that Aboriginals could present an even more interesting labour supply taking into consideration the aging of the non- Aboriginal labour force.

Aboriginal children represented 6% of all children in Canada, even though the total Aboriginal population accounted for only 3% of the total population in the country³. As this youth cohort moves through the education system, they will make a major contribution to the future growth of the workforce.

The age distribution by province and territory seems to have the same shape as in most of the country. However, there were some important differences in the age distribution among provinces and territories. For example, the distribution in Quebec tended to follow the non-Aboriginal pattern, where only 36% of the Aboriginal workforce in the construction industry were less than 35 years old⁴.

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Table 5
Age Participation of Aboriginals in the Construction Labour Market
Canada 2001.

Segments	CA	Atlantic	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC	Territ.
15-19 years	5%	2%	2%	5%	4%	4%	7%	6%	3%
20-24 years	11%	10%	8%	12%	10%	12%	12%	10%	13%
25-29 years	14%	12%	12%	13%	15%	13%	16%	12%	15%
30-34 years	16%	16%	14%	18%	15%	16%	17%	13%	18%
15-34 years	45%	40%	36%	47%	45%	45%	51%	40%	49%
35-39 years	17%	17%	19%	18%	17%	16%	16%	17%	18%
40-44 years	14%	16%	17%	13%	12%	15%	13%	15%	12%
45-49 years	9%	10%	10%	8%	10%	8%	8%	12%	10%
50-54 years	8%	8%	12%	7%	10%	7%	6%	8%	5%
55-59 years	4%	5%	5%	4%	5%	6%	4%	5%	3%
60 years and over	3%	4%	2%	3%	3%	3%	4%	3%	3%

Table 6
Age Participation of Non-Aboriginals in the Construction Labour Market
Canada 2001

Segments	CA	Atlantic	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC	Territ.
15-19 years	3%	2%	2%	3%	4%	6%	5%	3%	4%
20-24 years	9%	7%	7%	9%	10%	12%	12%	7%	5%
25-29 years	9%	9%	8%	10%	9%	8%	11%	9%	7%
30-34 years	12%	12%	12%	12%	11%	9%	12%	12%	9%
15-34 years	33%	30%	30%	34%	34%	35%	39%	31%	25%
35-39 years	15%	14%	15%	16%	14%	13%	13%	15%	14%
40-44 years	15%	15%	16%	15%	13%	14%	15%	15%	18%
45-49 years	13%	14%	14%	12%	14%	14%	12%	14%	17%
50-54 years	10%	12%	12%	10%	10%	9%	9%	11%	13%
55-59 years	7%	8%	8%	7%	8%	8%	6%	7%	7%
60 years and over	6%	5%	5%	6%	8%	8%	6%	6%	5%

The territories presented the largest difference with respect to the participation of Aboriginals (aged 15 to 34) and non-Aboriginals, where 49% of the Aboriginal workforce in the construction industry were 34 years old or younger, while in the non-Aboriginal labour force this representation reached only 25%⁵. However, this analysis could be biased as a result of the small Aboriginal population present. Alberta had the largest share of Aboriginals aged 15 to 34 (51%). Tables 5 and 6 show these distributions by provinces.

References

The Daily, Statistics Canada, Wednesday July 23, 2003.
“2001 Census: Analysis Series. Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A demographic profile”. Catalogue no 96F0030XIE2001007. Statistics Canada. 2003.
Census 2001, Statistics Canada. 2003
“Aboriginals Are Starting to Close the Education Gap”. Canada.com Network. 2003. http://www.canada.com/national/features/census/story.html?id=9254A78F-08AA-48AA-A68C-581EF982193A

Footnotes
¹ In 1991 and previous censuses, Aboriginal persons were determined using the ethnic origin question (ancestry). The 1996 Census included a question on the individual's own perception of his/her Aboriginal identity. The 2001 Census question is the same as the one used in 1996.
² “2001 Census: Analysis Series. Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A demographic profile”. Catalogue no 96F0030XIE2001007. Statistics Canada. 2003.
³ Idem
⁴ In Canada, 45% of the Aboriginal workforce in the construction industry was 34 years old or younger.
⁵ According to Statistics Canada, the Aboriginal birth rate was about 1.5 times that of the non Aboriginal birth rate.

The construction industry has been one of the most active sectors in the Canadian economy during recent years, exceeding $120 billion in 2003¹ and accounting for 12% of GDP. The ability of the labour supply to adjust to the demand levels varies with the business cycle. Alternative sources of labour, such as immigrants, become very important when addressing these labour supply changes.

Immigrants as a labour source
In the 2001 census, Statistics Canada defined immigrants as people who are or who have ever been landed immigrants. Landed immigrants are people who have been permitted by immigration authorities to live in Canada permanently. Some of them will have lived in Canada for a number of years, while others have arrived recently.

Table 1
Participation of Immigrants in the Construction Labour Market. Canada, Census 2001²

Immigrant Status	Labour Force Activity	Labour Force³	Unemployment Rate
Non-immigrant population	497,850	83%	12%
Immigrant population	96,995	16%	6%

In 2001, the participation of immigrants accounted for 16% of the total labour force in the construction industry with an unemployment level of 6%. This basic statistic shows that their representation can be a strong source of labour supply for the industry. Notice that the unemployment level of immigrants is half of the level of the non-immigrant population. The available data on immigrants does not offer enough information to suggest explanations or set conclusions about this fact.

Location
In 2001, major concentrations of immigrants were mainly present in large metropolitan areas in four Canadian provinces. Ontario had the largest immigrant construction worker population with a participation of 64% while Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia had a combined population of 33% (10%, 5% and 16% respectively). On the other hand, only a combined total of 4% was present in the rest of the country. Graph 1 shows this distribution.

Graph 1
Employment Participation of Immigrant Workers in the Construction Sector by Provinces. Canada, Census 2001

graph 1

Age Distribution
Comparing immigrant participation with that of non-immigrant participation, we can observe that the share of young immigrants was much lower than that of young non-immigrants. However, the distribution changes after 45 years of age, when the non-immigrant share of the workforce decreases, while the immigrant share remains quite constant for workers up to 55 years of age.

While the distribution of non-immigrant workers in the construction industry followed a normal age pattern⁴, the distribution of immigrant workers was considerably heavier for those who were 45 years and older. Moreover, immigrant workers between ages 35 and 54 had an almost constant participation rate, whereas the participation rate of those 55 years and older was only 2.5 points lower.

Graph 2
Age Distribution of Employment of Immigrant and Non-immigrant Workers in the Construction Sector in Canada, Census 2001

graph 2

This might suggest that immigrants chose to leave the industry later because many of them might not have accumulated enough pension benefits for their retirement. Moreover, most of the new immigrants, who accounted for only 1% of the immigrant labour force, were mainly young (69% of them were younger than 39 years old). This confirmed the hypothesis of immigrants staying longer in the industry. Graph 2 contains the distribution of employment by age.

Participation by trades and related occupations
The information from the 2001 Census on immigrants working for the construction industry can be broken down into 41 categories among trades and related occupations. The list is very broad and detailed. Therefore, we will only make an analysis of the occupations that had the largest participation of immigrants. This participation break-down is shown in Table 2.

The majority of immigrant construction workers were carpenters and construction trades helpers and labourers, who accounted for 15 % and 16% of the workforce respectively. The former presented the highest level of unemployment (9%). Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and services had only 3% unemployment.

Table 2
Trades with the Largest Concentrations of Immigrants in the Construction Industry and Related Occupations. Canada, Census 2001

Trades and Related Occupations	Labour Force	Share	Unemployed	Unemployment Rate
Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and services	3,970	4%	130	3%
Plumbers	4,035	4%	180	4%
Carpenters	15,085	15%	1,010	7%
Bricklayers	4,710	5%	265	6%
Plasterers, drywall installers and finishers, and lathers	4,820	5%	265	6%
Painters and decorators	9,105	10%	485	5%
Electricians (except industrial and power system)	6,490	7%	480	7%
Construction trades helpers and labourers	15,875	16%	1,355	9%

Participation of immigrants in trades
Immigrant workers in most trades represented between 8% and 28% of the workforce. Table 3 shows the trades with the highest and lowest shares of immigrant workers within each occupation. For example, in 2001, 42 out of every 100 tilesetters were immigrants who reported a low 5% level of unemployment in the trade. On the other hand, only 7 out of 100 people working as sheet metal workers were immigrants with an unemployment level of 6%. The level of unemployment for the total population in that specific trade was 9%.

Table 3
Participation of Immigrant Workers in the Construction Industry Trades. Canada, Census 2001

Trades	Total	Immigrants	Share	Unemployment Rate of Immigrants
Bricklayers	12,735	4,450	35%	6%
Concrete finishers	7,525	2,370	32%	7%
Tilesetters	4,980	2,085	42%	5%
Painters and decorators	30,125	8,615	29%	5%
Heavy equipment operators (except crane)	34,020	2,555	8%	8%
Sheet metal workers	9,105	675	7%	6%

Unemployment
Unemployment rates in the construction industry for 2001 were very high for small provinces and the territories. Those provinces that had a high concentration of labour also had low unemployment levels. Notice however that only the labour force of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia exceeded 1,000 people available to work. Analysis of the rest of the provinces and territories could be biased because of the small level of labour force involved.

In most of the provinces and territories, unemployment levels for immigrants were lower than those for non-immigrants, except in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island which also had the highest levels of unemployment. Table 4 shows the labour indicators of the immigrant population participating in the construction industry.

Graph 3
Unemployment Rate of Immigrants and Non-immigrants in the Construction Sector by Province. Canada, Census 2001

graph 3

Table 4
Labour Indicators of Immigrants Population in the Construction Industry
Canada, Census 2001

Provinces and Territories	Unemployment Rate	Labour Force	Employed	Unemployed
Canada	6%	96,995	90,770	6,225
Atlantic	20%	980	775	200
Quebec	12%	5,605	4,955	645
Ontario	4%	60,615	57,980	2,635
Manitoba	13%	2,305	1,995	310
Saskatchewan	11%	695	625	75
Alberta	6%	10,165	9,500	660
British Columbia	10%	16,485	14,800	1,685

References
1. The Daily, Statistics Canada, Wednesday July 23, 2003.
2. (2003), Census 2001, Statistics Canada.

Footnotes
¹ Canadian Construction Association, http://www.cca-acc.com/factsheet/factsheet.html .
² The data source of this brief has been taken from Statistics Canada, Census 2001.
³ Some of the summation totals are not 100% due to rounding processes used in the Census.
⁴ In general, most of these distributions have the shape of a bell. This means that the workers’ largest concentration is between ages 30 and 49, while the two extremes (15-29 and 49 and older) present less working population.