Immigrants Fuel London's Economic Engine: New Data Reveals Vital Contributions Across Sectors

London’s immigrant population is making contributions to all key sectors of the region’s economy, new figures analyzed by the LMLIP’s Fact Sharing work group show.

According to the group’s findings, taken from figures released by Statistics Canada, 10 industry sectors in the London Census Metropolitan Area employ about 86 per cent of immigrants between the ages of 25 and 54, what’s considered people’s prime working years.

The largest number of immigrants, close to 6,400 people, or 18 per cent of this segment of the local population, work in the health care and social assistance sector, one that since the COVID-19 pandemic has been facing large labour shortages.

Manufacturing takes second place, with a little more than 5,100 immigrants, or 14 per cent, working in this sector.

Educational services at nine per cent, or 3,090 immigrants, close the Top 3, closely followed by educational services (nine per cent) and retail and professional, scientific and technical services both at eight per cent.

For the most part, the percentage distribution of immigrant employment is largely like that of non-immigrants differing only by around one per cent in many sectors. However, as discovered in our Matter of Fact 18, the income for racialized populations is lower than that of the white population.

The pattern of employment for newcomers has also changed slightly in the past few decades.

For instance, while 10 per cent of immigrants worked in construction between 1980 and 1990, that figure has dropped to six per cent for those who arrived between 2016 and 2019.

On the other hand, the number of immigrants working in the Professional, Scientific and Technical sector, which includes professions such as engineering, veterinary and law, has grown to 10 per cent in 2019 from only six per cent in the 1980s.

Economists agree immigration will remain a critical aspect of the economic growth of the country.

In a recent report, RBC noted Canada’s aging population is one of the biggest challenges the country is facing, noting “roughly a quarter of workers in the manufacturing, utilities, business, finance, and administration, and trades and transportation industries will reach retirement age in the next decade.”

“As our population ages, pressure will only intensify to replace retiring workers,” the report reads. “Indeed, roughly 4.3 million baby boomers are set to reach retirement age by 2033. Canada’s population will not naturally grow fast enough to fill these gaps and in the absence of immigration, a shortfall of at least 400,000 workers will open up.”

To read all findings, check this and other Matter of Facts here.