Some interesting news on employment in Ottawa out this morning...
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Employment up 8% from five years ago, city
By Roman Zakaluzny, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Thu, Jan 3, 2008 4:00 PM EST
A municipal survey of employment numbers in 2006 is now finalized, confirming that almost 40,000 more residents are working in Ottawa than five years ago.
The increase in employment numbers was primarily due to hiring sprees by the federal government, and in the construction, health care, technical, software and computer services sectors, and came despite a loss of some 11,600 manufacturing jobs in the capital.
Since 1976, the city has surveyed employment data every five years. In 2006, the city contacted more than 30,000 employers in the City of Ottawa, and the results are used extensively by city planners and councillors, for everything from zoning, transportation, water and sewer needs, economic development and the setting of development charges.
The city's planning and environment committee will get a chance to see a report on the matter Tuesday. Elements of the report were first unveiled to the city's business advisory committee three months ago.
Ottawa saw a net loss of some 11,600 manufacturing jobs, or 27 per cent, which the report credited to the 2001 high tech meltdown and resultant layoffs, especially in the telecommunications sector.
However, that loss was more than offset by the creation of 12,600 federal civil service jobs.
Jobs in "advanced technology," as defined by precise North American Industry Classification System definitions, stood at 67,457 in 2006, down 3,600( five per cent) from 2001. However, high-tech jobs increased in Kanata, the eastern area inside the Greenbelt and in Orleans, the report added.
Other highlights of the report include:
- The number of jobs located in Ottawa grew by 39,900 between 2001 and 2006, an increase of 8.3 per cent, for a total of 521,639 jobs in 2006. "While this is less than the 20 per cent growth of the 1996-2001 period, which included the boom in high technology jobs, employment growth nevertheless outpaced that of population growth)," the report noted. "Most of the gains were in full-time jobs."
- Employment within 600 metres walking distance of a rapid transit station increased by 9.4 per cent to a total of 205,500 in 2006, a faster growth rate than overall employment. This represents close to 40 per cent of all jobs in the city.
- Although it added 4,500 jobs, for a total of 98,000 in 2006, Ottawa's Central Area continued to lose in share, falling from 19.4 per cent of the city-wide total in 2001 to 18.7 per cent in 2006.
- Jobs in the rural area grew at their highest rate since the survey began in 1976, accounting for almost 10 per cent of all city-wide jobs added since 2001. In 2006 there were 21,775 rural jobs, up from 17,840 in 2001 – an increase of 22 per cent. The authors of the report noted that since the survey does not include farmers since most do not have a business telephone number, "the actual rural figure would be a couple of thousand higher than this figure."
- In urban areas outside the Greenbelt, employment increased in all areas except Leitrim. By far the largest increase, 58 per cent of all the urban centres, was in Kanata and Stittsville, which combined saw the creation of over 7,700 net new jobs, despite the losses in high tech jobs shortly after 2001.
The full survey results are available at city hall.
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