EMPLOYMENT GROWTH AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN URBAN CANADA, 1971–1991

This paper presents an analysis of recent patterns of employment growth and structural transformation within urban Canada and, more specifically, seeks to determine which economic activities are becoming spatially more concentrated or more dispersed across the urban system. In addition, the paper seeks to identify the urban area attributes (e.g., size, region, economic diversity) that are most strongly correlated with employment growth. The data employed in the empirical analysis are based upon employment in 159 economic sectors across a set of 152 urban units with populations greater than 10 thousand inhabitants. The results indicate three major trends: tertiarization; spatial polarization; and declining rates of employment growth.