Portrait of jobs related to infrastructure
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Released: 2020-09-28
In 2019, there were 608,318 jobs related to infrastructure in Canada, comprising 1.17 billion hours worked with an average hourly wage of $32.04. The hours worked in infrastructure-related jobs represented 3.6% of total hours worked in the Canadian economy. Jobs related to infrastructure include direct employment, such as the employees of a construction company building a bridge, but also indirect employment, such as the manufacturer supplying the steel and the restaurant worker supplying the meals. The Infrastructure Economic Account Human Resource Module provides characteristics of those jobs for the provinces and territories for 2009 to 2019.
Slight increases in the average hourly wage
Average hourly wage for infrastructure-related jobs has increased $4.14 since 2009 to reach $32.04 per hour in 2019. Comparatively, the average hourly wage for all industries in the Canadian economy was $37.35 in 2019, an increase of $7.74 since 2009. The average hourly wage for full-time infrastructure-related jobs was $32.79, a similar level for the past four years. Part-time infrastructure-related jobs had an average rate of $21.73, up 64 cents from 2018. Part-time jobs represented 15.3% of all infrastructure-related jobs in 2019, and 6.8% of hours worked. Compared with the national average, part-time jobs were more common in Yukon (28.6% of all jobs), Nunavut (26.4%), and Northwest Territories (26.3%) while full-time jobs were more common in Newfoundland and Labrador (88.9%), Prince Edward Island (88.2%) and New Brunswick (87.5%).
Female workers held 26.7% of infrastructure-related jobs in 2019, with an average hourly wage of $28.48. Since 2009, the share of female workers has remained relatively stable, with the lowest share in 2015 at 25.8%. Among the provinces and territories, the Northwest Territories had the highest share of female workers at 32.7%, whereas Prince Edward Island had the lowest at 21.6%.
Chart 1
Percentage of females and males by province and territory, 2019
Largest share of workers are between 25 and 34 years old
More than one-quarter of workers in infrastructure-related jobs were between the ages of 25 and 34 years in 2019. Over the period from 2009 to 2019, the share of workers in the youngest age group has decreased, while the share of workers in the oldest age group has increased.
Chart 2
Age distribution of infrastructure-related jobs, by sex, 2019
Of the provinces and territories, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories were the only regions where the largest share of workers was not in the 25 to 34 age range. Yukon and the Northwest Territories had a larger share of workers within the 45 to 54 years of age range, whereas for Prince Edward Island, it was 55 to 64 years of age. Nationally, the share of workers aged 45 to 54 decreased from 24.1% in 2009 to 19.2% in 2019 and the share of workers aged 55 to 64 increased from 13.0% to 16.5% over the same period.
Workers who identify as Indigenous, which comprise 4.0% of total jobs related to infrastructure, were more likely to be younger. Nearly half (48.2%) of workers who identify as Indigenous fall in the two youngest age ranges—15 to 24 years and 25 to 34 years—compared with 37.4% of non-Indigenous workers.
Largest share of jobs are held by people with a high school diploma or less
Close to four-tenths (36.8%) of workers in jobs related to infrastructure have a high school diploma or less, with an average hourly wage of $28.67. Females were more likely than males to have a university degree or college diploma; males were more likely to have a trade certificate. Females had a lower average hourly wage than males nationally, in each category of educational attainment.
Chart 3
Average hourly wage by level of education and sex, dollars per hour, 2019
Immigrants, which held 25.4% of jobs related to infrastructure in 2019, were more likely to hold a university degree than any other type of education and least likely to hold a trade certificate. Female to male shares for immigrants were higher than that for non-immigrants and almost half of female immigrants in infrastructure-related jobs had a university degree or higher.
Note to readers
The Human Resource Module of the Infrastructure Economic Accounts complements and enhances the analytical capacity of the economic indicators already available in the account. It provides a broader insight into infrastructure's role in the economy through more detailed human resource information such as gender, hours worked, wages and work schedule of those jobs related to infrastructure investment. This includes employee and self-employed jobs.
The Human Resource Module of the Infrastructure Economic Accounts provides annual estimates for 2009 to 2019 for Canada and the provinces and territories for all infrastructure-producing industries. The detailed estimates are based on a combination of information from the Infrastructure Economic Accounts, the Canadian Productivity Accounts, and the Labour Force Survey. Owing to the methodology utilized, comparisons can be made to the Canadian System of National Accounts' labour productivity estimates for the overall economy.
The special tabulations produced by this module are available on request. This article provides a sample of the information that can be derived from the Human Resource Module of the Infrastructure Economic Accounts special tabulations.
Products
The infographic "A portrait of infrastructure related jobs in Canada" is now available as part of the series Statistics Canada – Infographics (11-627-M).
The product Infrastructure Statistics Hub (71-607-X) is available.
The Infrastructure Economic Account section, which is part of the Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X), is available.
The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
Contact information
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