Economic and Social Reports, August 2025

There are five new articles available in today's release of Economic and Social Reports.

Longstanding tenants pay less in monthly shelter costs than recent renters

Renters' shelter costs can differ depending on how long they've lived in their current home. Renters who recently moved can pay substantially more than longstanding renters. The study "Renters' shelter costs by duration of tenancy," found that the gap between recent and long-term renters' shelter costs widened from 1996 to 2021.

Accounting for comparable dwellings and neighbourhoods, longstanding tenants (five years or more) paid approximately 19% less in monthly shelter costs than recent renters (under one year) in 2021 compared with 6% less in 1996. In 2021, the gaps in rental costs between recent renters and longer-term renters varied across municipalities. However, longstanding tenants similarly paid 18% to 20% less than recent renters in Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Ottawa. One notable exception is Calgary, where longstanding tenants paid around 6% less than recent tenants.

Meanwhile, renters in Canada increasingly favour longer tenancy durations. From 1996 to 2021, the percentage of renters residing in the same dwelling they did five years earlier increased from 30% to 42%. In contrast, 30% of renters lived in a different location than they did one year or more ago in 1996, compared with 20% in 2021.

These findings add to the understanding of factors that may affect renters' willingness to move, including relocation for a new job.

Workers laid off from high-emission industries fare worse economically than their counterparts from other industries

As Canada, like other countries, transitions towards a net-zero greenhouse gas emission economy, the jobs and earnings of workers employed in high-emission industries may be impacted. This could have important implications in terms of workers in these industries' adaptability and their future earnings potential. High-emission industries are those ranking in the top 20% of the greenhouse gas intensity distribution, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The article "The impact of job displacement on earnings of workers in high-emission industries in Canada" summarizes a joint study conducted by the OECD and selected international partners, including Statistics Canada. The study leveraged matched employer-employee data across 14 OECD countries, that is, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, France and Sweden.

In the year following layoffs, real earnings of Canadian workers displaced from high-emission industries over the 2005-to-2013 period decreased by 73% relative to their pre-displacement earnings. This compares with a decrease of 67% for Canadian workers from other industries. These represented real earnings losses (in 2015 constant US dollars) of $40,800 for workers in high-emission industries and $27,900 for those in other industries. On average, relative earnings of displaced workers from the 13 other participating OECD countries decreased by 57% in high-emission industries and 51% in other industries.

Although it is too early to know how workers in high-emission industries might adapt to potential job losses, examining historical patterns of their post-displacement labour market outcomes could inform future strategies for dealing with potential job displacements.

A look at the video game industry in Canada

The global video game industry is the fastest-growing media industry. The article "A profile of the video game industry in the Canadian provinces" fills an information gap on changes in the Canadian video game industry from 2013 to 2022. The findings show that the Canadian video game industry has been growing rapidly compared with the average Canadian industry.

From 2013 to 2022, the number of firms in the video game industry more than doubled, driven by Canadian-owned firms engaged in video game design, as opposed to video game publishing. Canadian-owned firms made up over 97% of the industry in each year. However, they are much smaller than foreign-owned firms in terms of revenue and employment, indicating a strong presence of independent Canadian video game firms. Revenue growth was higher for Canadian-owned firms than for foreign-owned firms, while job growth was about the same for the two types of firms.

Monitoring changes in the video game industry is important because of Canadian policies aimed at supporting the creation and preservation of Canadian culture, including restricting foreign acquisition of Canadian firms. These findings provide reassurance that Canadian-owned firms continue to make significant contributions to this industry in terms of revenue and jobs.

The number of temporary foreign workers employed in health care has grown significantly since 2000

Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) have played an increasingly important role in addressing labour shortages in Canada's health care sector. A new study, "Temporary foreign workers in health care: Characteristics, transition to permanent residency and industry retention," uses integrated administrative data to provide an overview of TFWs in this field. The study found that the number of TFWs working in health care grew significantly from 2000 to 2022, rising from 3,200 to 57,500.

In 2022, TFWs accounted for 3% of the workforce in ambulatory health care services, 1% of that in hospitals and 5% of that in nursing and residential care facilities, compared with the corresponding shares of 0.4%, 0.2% and 0.3% in 2000. Their presence was even more prominent in specific industries. For example, TFWs made up 8% of the home health care services workforce in 2022. Among TFWs who entered the health care sector from 2000 to 2004, about 63% became permanent residents within 15 years. For TFWs who entered the sector from 2005 to 2014, the same transition rate was achieved but in seven years.

Among TFWs who obtained permanent residency from 2010 to 2019, two-thirds remained in the health care sector one year after becoming permanent residents, and more than half were still in the sector five years later. These high rates of transition to permanent residency and industry retention suggest that TFWs can make lasting contributions to Canada's health care workforce.

The occupational outcomes of provincial nominees

The Provincial Nominee Program has played an important role in addressing regional labour market needs outside Canada's three largest cities. The study, "The occupational outcomes of provincial nominees," compares the occupational distribution of recent provincial nominees (PNs) who gained permanent residence one to five years before the 2021 Census of Population with that of Canadian-born workers.

Among full-time workers in 2021, PNs (14%) were more likely to be employed as engineers and computer and information system professionals compared with Canadian-born workers (4%). PNs (17%) were also more concentrated in support and service roles, including nurse aides, service representatives and sales support occupations, than Canadian-born workers were (7%). In contrast, PNs (6%) were less likely than Canadian-born workers (17%) to work in licensed professions or skilled trades, including professional occupations in nursing; education; industrial, electrical and construction trades; and maintenance and equipment operation trades.

Occupational patterns varied across the provinces. In New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia, 20% to 25% of PN principal applicants worked in computer and information system roles. In Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, about 16% were employed in sales and customer service-related occupations.

These findings suggest that PNs tended to complement Canadian-born workers in occupational distribution, though the extent of this complementarity differed by province, reflecting differences in regional labour demand and nomination criteria.