Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Canadian construction industry dropped 66,700 jobs in December, a 4.1 per cent decrease. For all of 2023, there was a 1.1 per cent decline, higher than the general labour force which reported a 0.2 per cent reduction in jobs.
The number of women working in the construction sector jumped 7.8 per cent in 2023. There were 10,500 women aged 15 to 24 in construction in 2022 and 16,800 in 2023.
Provincially, Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia experienced decreases – 8.9 percent in B.C.; 4 per cent in Ontario due to reduced residential construction activity and 6.5 per cent in Nova Scotia with a reported slowdown in healthcare-related construction and lower demand for new housing.
The most significant gains were in Prince Edward Island (14.7 per cent) and New Brunswick (11.3 per cent).
The construction sector averaged 1.67 million jobs in 2023 – up from 1.63 million over the year -the third consecutive year of growth.
