Archived Content

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Highlights

• While employment dropped in manufacturing over the six-year period from 2002 to 2007, increases in construction and health care and social assistance more than offset the decline. Employment growth in retail trade over the same period made it the country's largest industry for jobs by 2007.

• Satisfaction with work-life balance was lower among shift workers than among regular day workers—while 76% of day workers were satisfied with their work-life balance, only 69% of shift workers were satisfied.

• Overall real wages increased over the period, in part due to the run-up in wages in a number of fast-expanding occupations, including supervisors and service workers in mining, oil and gas extraction as well as other managers in business, finance, health, education and government.

• More of the job losses in manufacturing over the 2002 to 2007 period occurred in textiles and clothing, which paid a lower average hourly wage than transportation equipment manufacturing, such as motor vehicles and parts.

• In Ontario, machine operators working in manufacturing experienced more reductions in staff at the mid-range of the pay scale; in Quebec, reductions occurred almost equally in the mid-range and lower-wage groups. This is related to the mix of manufacturing industries found in each province.

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