What’s going on in Hamilton’s economy?

Hamilton is an exciting place to start your career. With over half a million people, Hamilton is the 5th largest city in Ontario and the 10th largest city in the country. Employment in the Hamilton CMA (which includes Burlington and Grimsby) increased over 4% from 2006-2012.

Hamilton’s economic recovery is reflected in the low unemployment rate, which, at 6.1% in March 2013, was one of the lowest of all major cities in the province. A diversified economy, affordability, skills development collaboration, and a focus on poverty reduction have all been attributed to Hamilton’s low unemployment rate.

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What is Labour Market Information (LMI) and why is it important?

The labour market is constantly evolving and adapting to economic conditions, opportunities and challenges.

You can use LMI in order to find out what is happening in the community that will help you make wise decisions about careers, education and employment.

Did you know?

Fast Facts about Hamilton CMA (March 2013):

- Labour force: 409,900

- Unemployment rate: 6.1%

- Over 27,000 businesses operate in Hamilton (June 2012)

For more information about Hamilton’s labour market visit

our website:

www.workforceplanninghamilton.ca

May 2013

2012: A Bright Year for Hamilton

The Conference Board of Canada ranked the Hamilton-Burlington economy as the fastest growing in 2012 among Ontario cities at 2.5%

Site Selection Magazine ranked Hamilton the #1 city in Canada for attracting industrial and commercial development

Real Estate Investment Network ranked Hamilton as the best place to invest in Ontario for the second year in a row

Conference Board of Canada’s Diversity Index gave Hamilton a 0.92 rating (where 1 is “Highly Diverse” and 0 is “Not Diverse”), which contributes to the resilience of our economy to market fluctuations and encourages a broad spectrum of employment opportunities

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Employment and Unemployment Rates Hamilton CMA

Labour Force Survey 2006-2012

The table to the left uses Labour Force Survey data to show the top ten industries of employment in 2012, as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Employment within an industry includes supporting occupations, in addition to occupations unique to that industry. For example, the educational services industry includes those involved in administrative support, trades, and management roles within the sector. The city’s employment strengths long dominated by the steel industry have become quite diverse, as exemplified in

the industries which exhibited the greatest growth. As Hamilton transitions to a more knowledge-intensive community, industries such as finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, professional, scientific and technical services, and educational services are growing at a high rate.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) provides a standardized framework for organizing occupations according to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system. Through NOC analysis, we can gain a reference as to understanding the jobs found throughout Hamilton’s labour market. Occupations related to sales and service continues to account for the most prevalent occupations in Hamilton. Many of these jobs are part-time and/or entry-level, employing relatively higher percentage of youth labour market participants. However, the occupational categories that experienced the greatest growth over the past five years are those that require higher levels of education, such as health occupations and social science, education, government service and religion. As Hamilton is becoming more concentrated in knowledge-intensive industries, it follows that the demand for occupations in knowledge-intensive occupational categories has increased.

Industry % of Total Employment

2012

% Growth 2007 to 2012

Retail and Wholesale Trade 16.3% 15.7%

Manufacturing 12.8% -16.3%

Health Care and Social Assistance 12.6% 10.1%

Educational Services 8.6% 12.4% Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing

7.2% 14.6%

Construction 7.1% 17.4% Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

6.6% 13.5%

Accommodation and Food Services 5.8% -6.7% Transportation and Warehousing 4.7% -6.3% Information, Culture and Recreation 4.2% 4.3%

Occupational Category % Share of all Occupations

2012

% Growth 2007 to 2012

Sales and Service 25.5% 2.0% Business, Finance and Administrative 17.2% -1.2% Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators 13.5% 0% Social Science, Education, Government Service and Religion

10.3% 16.7%

Management 10.0% 10.1% Health 7.3% 19.7% Natural & Applied Sciences 5.5% -2.8% Occupations Unique to Processing, Manufacturing & Utilities

5.2% -13.0%

Art, Culture Recreation & Sport 3.4% 6.5% Occupations Unique to Primary Industry 2.0% -9.4%

Where are all the jobs?

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY (HAMILTON CMA)

EMPLOYMENT BY OCCUPATION (HAMILTON CMA)

Employment in the Hamilton CMA grew to 381,200 workers in 2012 with trade,

manufacturing and health care making up the top 3 sectors.

You may be wondering what jobs will be available in the future. With the Centre for Spatial Economics, Workforce Planning Hamilton calculated a custom tabulation that forecasts the number of new workers that will be required in each occupation in Hamilton. The top 10 growth occupations are shown in the table below.

Occupation

2006 Workers 2006 to 2016 New Workers Required

Entry level sales and service 20,300 5,700 Clerical 19,200 5,300 Intermediate sales and service 19,400 5,200 Professional occupations in health 9,400 4,800 Professional occupations in social science, education, government services and religion

15,500 4,700

Middle and other management 15,700 4,100 Skilled administrative and business 11,500 4,000 Skilled sales and service 10,200 3,000 Intermediate occupations in transport, equipment operation, installation and maintenance

8,300 2,200

Assisting occupations in support of health services 4,900 2,000

Where is Hamilton headed?

TOP 10 GROWTH OCCUPATIONS, 2006 TO 2016 (City of Hamilton)

SMALL BUSINESS DOMINATES IN HAMILTON

Number of Hamilton businesses by employee size range (Canadian Business Patterns June 2012) Owner Operated 1-4 5-9 10-19 20-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+ Total

14,253 6,805 2,827 1,651 1,147 370 159 81 29 27,322

Hamilton has 27,322 registered businesses Small business is the driving engine of the local economy as most job creation stems from them 86% of businesses with employees have less than 20 employees; 95% have less than 50 employees 52% of businesses in Hamilton are sole proprietor/owner operated

The Baby Boomer generation started to retire in 2011 and this trend will continue to 2031. Younger workers will be needed to take the place of those who are retiring and to fill the jobs that will be created between 2006 and 2016. It’s

projected that Hamilton will need more than 50,000 new workers to fill the 29,000 new jobs created through economic expansion and the more than 21,000 jobs

made available due to retirements during this time.

Job Search Tips

Research companies you may be interested in working for (The Hamilton Business Directory at www.ylm.ca/hamiltoncity is a good place to start!)

Customize your resume and cover letter for each job you apply to

Use your network to look for openings that aren’t advertised

Visit the Student Success Centre at McMaster University or online at www.studentsuccess.mcmaster.ca

Thinking about starting your own business?

Visit the Small Business Enterprise Centre, located in

Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main St W. www.hamiltonsmallbusiness.ca

The City of Hamilton has identified six areas as part of its Economic Development Strategy. Both small and large businesses see benefits from clustering, including: a local specialization in labour skills, higher density of supplier networks, and knowledge spillovers (knowledge that spills across firms working in the same industry in the same location).

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING Having innovation, technology, and a highly skilled labour force to make Hamilton more competitive and productive Total Employed (2006): 42,525 Number of businesses (2012): 972

AGRI-BUSINESS AND FOOD PROCESSING Making Hamilton the major food and beverage manufacturing centre in Ontario Total Employed (2006): 9,415 Number of businesses (2012): 581

CLEAN TECHNOLOGY Being a leader in wind-based power, water purification and waste-water treatment by using clean technology Industries included: utilities; agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, construction; manufacturing; administration and support; waste management and remediation services; transportation and warehousing

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Enhancing the growing importance that music, visual and performing arts, digital media, films and events have to the local economy Total Employed (2006): 7,100 Number of businesses (2012): 3,717

GOODS MOVEMENT

Using Hamilton’s unique location to develop business in the transporting goods,supply chain management, logistics, warehousing and communications infrastructure Total Employed (2006): 15,725 Businesses: All four major modes of transportation represented in Hamilton (air, water, road, rail)

LIFE SCIENCES Building off the strength of the health, environment, information technology, agriculture and manufacturing sectors, and becoming a leader in the area of biotechnology Total Employed (2006): 3,600 Number of businesses (2012): 2

Interested in reading more labour market information? Visit the Workforce Planning Hamilton website at www.workforceplanninghamilton.ca and click on Publications.

Key clusters of economic development