Over 60,000 Employed Now in Toronto’s Green Industries

The City of Toronto has released its 2019 estimates of the size of the green sectors in Toronto. The sectors’ employment continues to grow twice as fast as the overall employment in Toronto (3.9% vs. 1.6% annually) and contributed an estimated $6.55 billion to the local GDP in 2018.

The Sustainable Transportation sector continues to employ the most people and experiences the fastest growth rate (23,000 and 4.9% annually) although it has the smallest number of organizations in all the green sectors – accounting for only 6% in the City’s Economic Development’s green contact database.

The Resource Management sector (water, waste, recycling, pollution control) in Toronto makes the greatest contribution to the Green Industries’ GDP ($2.03 billion) and also has the largest number of firms (29% of the total database) and the Bio-Economy sector (while the smallest of the green sectors) had the greatest growth in GDP (70% increase over the 5 years ending 2018). Employees in Toronto’s Clean Energy Sector command the highest wages (average of $1,384 weekly wages)

The estimates are based on a updated model of the green sector based on statistics of “pure green” NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes and intensity ratios of NAICS where green sector firms are found in.

Information provided by the Sector Development Office, Economic Development and Culture, City of Toronto. Full details of the economic analysis can be found at https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/industry-sector-support/green//?accordion=distribution-of-jobs-in-the-green-sector