Financial services employment accounts for 7.5 per cent of all Toronto jobs, more than world financial leaders including London (7.4 per cent) and New York (6.4 per cent), a new report finds.
The new report issued by the Conference Board of Canada found that 1 in 13 jobs in the Toronto area is in financial services, which "accounted for 13.8 per cent of Toronto's economy in 2011—second only to manufacturing," the Conference Board summarized.
According to the report, 230,000 people worked in the financial sector and supported another 191,000 jobs in 2012. Additionally, the industry has grown 25 per cent since 2002 and is typically growing faster than overall employment as a whole.
"Toronto's stature as a global financial centre is similar to cities such as Frankfurt, Sydney, and Zurich. Toronto's highly-ranked status is founded on its core strengths, which include its diversity and its scale," said Michael Burt, Director, Industrial Economic Trends, in the Conference Board's summary.
However, he notes, the city needs to up its game in order to remain competitive.
"Nevertheless, policy-makers and the institutions that make up the Toronto financial services sector should not become complacent. Cities such as Dubai, Shanghai, Sao Paolo and Mumbai are aggressively developing their financial sectors. Understanding—and leveraging—Toronto's strengths of diversity and scale are the keys to meeting this challenge from new competitors."
Read the full report
here.
Original Source: Conference Board of Canada