Canadian auto employment up 1% as of third quarter: analyst
Motor vehicle wholesale industry employment was up 5.2%
TORONTO—An automotive industry analyst says that despite reported doom and gloom about the sector, average employment in the industry at the end of the third quarter was up 1% compared with a year ago.
DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. says an average of 691,400 Canadians were employed by the industry, including ancillary subsectors this year, up from 684,700 a year earlier
Motor vehicle manufacturing employment was up 1.2% while metalworking machinery, motor vehicle parts and accessories, and motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing jobs decreased 3.9, 2.5 and 2.4% respectively.
Employment at automobile dealers grew 2% with 161,400 employees on average working from January through to September.
Motor vehicle wholesale industry employment was up 5.2%, followed by automotive parts and accessories stores at 4.5%.
DesRosiers says Canadian auto sales were flat in November at about 143,666 new light vehicles while year-to-date sales remained down.
“While Canadian automotive manufacturing employment is set to take a hit at year-end with the closure of the General Motors Oshawa plant, overall employment in the sector as a whole looks to remain relatively healthy,” DesRosiers wrote in a report.
