Charting employment growth in the GTA

NRU
Oct. 5, 2016

October 3 a new report from the Ryerson University Centre for Urban Research and Land Development suggests that municipal employment surveys may not tell the whole story of employment growth in the GTA. Authored by CUR researcher Justin Shin, the report states that available data from municipal employment surveys does not accurately reflect total employment and business numbers and annual changes in employment and businesses in the GTA.

In particular, the report identifies irregularities between municipal employment survey data and Statistics Canada data, as well as incomplete geographical and temporal coverage of the GTA. A number of recommendations for improving the accuracy of employment data are identifi ed, including: establishment of a provincial or single GTA entity to conduct employment surveys using a single methodology; development and agreement on a standardized methodology that Toronto and the GTA regions use when administering their own surveys; and reliance on Statistics Canada Canadian Business Patterns data to incorporate counts of individual businesses.