Automotive manufacturing employment in Canada is much larger than has traditionally been estimated, and employers in the sector will face significant hiring needs over the next decade, according to a set of detailed sector profiles and labour market forecasts by the Future of Canadian Automotive Labourforce Initiative (FOCAL).

FOCAL’s profiles of the automotive manufacturing and its regional forecasts for over 40 auto manufacturing occupations use this innovative and expanded definition of the industry

Eastern Ontario is one of Canada’s key auto sector regions. Using FOCAL’s broader definition of the sector, Eastern Ontario had about 4,100 automotive manufacturing employees in 2019. These employees can be grouped as follows: 

• 56% of workers (approximately 2.320) were employed in core automotive roles, all of which were related to parts manufacturing.
• The remaining 44% of workers (approximately 1,840) were employed in associated industries, such as the computer & electronics grouping, which accounted for 20% of broader automotive industry.  A further 19% of broader automotive industry employment came from the metals and non-metal materials industry groups.

Looking to the future, FOCAL’s ‘baseline‘ forecast for Eastern Ontario is that the sector will require 1,210 new employees between 2021 and 2030.

This recruitment challenge facing Eastern Ontario automotive sector employers will exceed the sector’s historic rate of new hiring.

Automotive manufacturing employers in the Eastern Ontario region “will need to hire the equivalent of 24% of their current workforce over the forecast period”.

The region’s greatest needs will be for skilled trades employees, administration employees, and production employees.

As is the case in some other parts of Ontario, Eastern Ontario’s automotive industry is characterized by having with higher than average proportions of its workforce belonging to the 45-54 and 55-64 age cohorts.

The industry’s recruitment needs over the next decade will come primarily from retirements of many of these current employees, as well as from modest growth in parts exports.

In the coming months, FOCAL will release new forecasts for Ontario and Quebec that will take into account possible shifts in vehicle production in Canada.  As well, FOCAL will release forecasts for key technological jobs that will be linked to shifts in the industry’s adoption of new manufacturing technology.

Read FOCAL’s profile of the automotive industry in Eastern Ontario.

Read FOCAL’s baseline labour market forecast for Eastern Ontario.