Jobs in the manufacturing sector in both Canada and Alberta have seen a significant decline since the early 2000s.

Citing data from Statistics Canada, ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team says there were 424,904 fewer manufacturing jobs in Canada in 2018 compared to 2001, a drop of 21.5 per cent, and over the same period, Alberta’s manufacturing sector shed 6,599 jobs for a 5.1 per cent decline. 

In its daily economic update The Owl, ATB says that while manufacturing employment was shrinking, the total number of jobs in Canada rose by 28.3 per cent and by 42.6 per cent in Alberta.

“As a result, the slice of the employment pie represented by manufacturing fell from 15.3 per cent in 2001 to 9.3 per cent in 2018 for Canada as a whole and from 9.2 per cent to 6.1 per cent here in Alberta,” says ATB.

“Even though the number of manufacturing jobs—in both Canada and Alberta—has been on the rise over the last few years, the long-term trend is downward. This is in keeping with the increased use of automation and the movement of some manufacturing jobs to countries with lower wages.

“It’s important to note that the drop in manufacturing employment has not been accompanied by a drop in manufacturing output. The real GDP generated by Canada’s manufacturing sector (taking into account price inflation) increased by 17.7 per cent between 2001 and 2018 and by 47.1 per cent in Alberta.”

According to StatsCan, as employment in the manufacturing sector fell, proportionately fewer men became employed on a full-year, full-time basis. From 2000 to 2015, the percentage of Canadian men aged 21 to 55 who were employed mainly full time for at least 48 weeks fell by five percentage points, from 63.6 per cent in 2000 to 58.6 per cent in 2015.

Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.

© Calgary’s Business


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