Annual Head Office Survey, 2015
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Released: 2017-03-13
The number of head offices in Canada declined by 1.3% from 2014 to 2,724 in 2015, while the number of head office employees decreased by 0.5% to 229,160.
At the provincial level, the number of employees working at head offices in Alberta declined 3.3% from 2014 to 2015. The majority of this employment decrease came from the large urban centres of Calgary and Edmonton. One factor underlying this decline was the impact of the collapse in the world petroleum prices in the fall of 2014.
Ontario accounted for the largest number of head offices (1,084) and head office employees (95,654), followed by Quebec (562 head offices and 53,049 employees) and Alberta (385 head offices and 40,990 employees).
Head office employment continued to be concentrated provincially, with 90.4% of head office employment located in four provinces: Ontario (41.7%), Quebec (23.1%), Alberta (17.9%) and British Columbia (7.6%).
Head offices continued to be located mainly in large urban centres, with 83.5% of head office employment and more than two-thirds of head offices located in eight census metropolitan areas (CMAs): Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa–Gatineau, Winnipeg, Québec and Edmonton.
Among the CMAs, Toronto had the most head office employees (75,120), followed by Montréal (42,189), Calgary (31,569) and Vancouver (15,225).
Similarly, of the eight CMAs, Toronto had the most head offices (690), followed by Montréal (381), Vancouver (233) and Calgary (210).
Note to readers
Head offices include establishments and locations primarily engaged in providing general management and/or administrative support services to affiliated establishments. Their activities include corporate functions, such as strategic organizational planning, communications, tax planning, legal services, marketing, finance, human resource management and information technology services.
Data for 2013 and 2014 have been revised.
Contact information
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