According to the Government of Canada, Canada has one of the ten largest economies in the world. Manufacturing, natural resources, and services are the three major sectors of Canada’s economy. Manufacturing specialties include automobiles, food, high-tech equipment, paper, and aerospace technology. The country’s major natural resources are agriculture, forestry, fishing, energy, and mining. Within the services sector, construction, banking, tourism, government, transportation, health care, and education are all important.
The government website calls Canada “a trading nation, ” and explains, “Canada has always been a trading nation, and commerce remains the engine of economic growth. As Canadians, we could not maintain our standard of living without engaging in trade with other nations.” Much of Canada’s trade is with the United States.
According to Invest in Canada, Canada is the third largest tech cluster in North America. Three areas of tech strength for this country are cybersecurity, AI, and ocean tech. Canada has made major investments in all of these areas, and growth has been strong in recent years. Tech Talent Canada reports that Canada’s tech activity is centered in Toronto. In an article titled “Canada’s Tech Cities, ” it explains, “Key factors driving Toronto’s tech success include a strong presence of venture capital firms, a burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) sector, and a rapidly expanding FinTech industry.” Other tech hubs in Canada—according to Tech Talent Canada—include Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria.
This country is rich in natural resources, which include forests, minerals, and energy resources. The Government of Canada website states that natural resources account for 1.9 million jobs in Canada and that, per capita, the country’s natural resources economy is the third largest in the world. There are significant economic differences between the natural resources found in each region of Canada. In a report titled “Canada’s regional economies: Strength from Diversity, ” the Bank of Canada explains that each area is associated with a different type of natural resource. It says that British Columbia is known for forestry, northern Canada for mining, and Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, and Labrador for oil and gas.
According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the oil and natural gas industry is a significant part of the economy, creating 150,000 direct jobs and 300,000 indirect jobs. In an article on its website titled “Energy and the Canadian Economy, ” it explains that this industry provides a wide variety of different types of jobs. It says, “The industry employs engineers, scientists, safety technicians, environmental technologists, field operators, construction workers, financial analysts, administrators, and more.” The industry is also a major employer of Indigenous people. In addition, CAPP reports that Canada’s oil and natural gas business pays about twice the average salary in Canada.
Invest in Canada lists some of the food products produced in Canada. It says, “Canada is known for its fresh seafood, top quality meats, specialty foods and drinks, and crops like canola, pulses, and durum wheat.” In fact, this country is the largest exporter of canola oil and pulses. Invest in Canada adds, “Food and beverage processing makes up most of the manufacturing activity in Canada, with access to a continuous, fresh supply from Canadian farms.” Canada is also a center of research and development in the field of agriculture, with organizations like Canadian Agri-food Automation and Intelligence Network and the Canadian Food Innovation Network driving technological advances in food.
Average hourly pay by industry, according to data from Statistics Canada:
According to the government of Canada’s 2024 Economic and Fiscal Overview report, unemployment is at a historic low in Canada, at 6.1%. In addition, it says that wages have been growing faster than inflation in recent years. It says, “Real average weekly earnings have risen by 4.6 percent since 2019, ” explaining, “Consequently, over the course of a year, a worker earning the average weekly wage (before taxes) of $1,270 today can afford the same basket of goods and services as in 2019, with an additional $2,900 left over at the end of the year to save or spend.”