September 4, 2012
TORONTO — The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, today unveiled updated figures highlighting the significant contributions of the natural resources sector to the Canadian economy.
The new figures, generated by Natural Resources Canada using the latest Statistics Canada data, enable a better understanding of this economic impact by taking into account the value of goods and services purchased by the natural resources sector from other industries. This analysis also offers a more comprehensive account of the number of jobs supported by the sector.
“In addition to the approximately 800,000 Canadians directly employed in the natural resource sector, another 800,000 people across Canada in every province and territory are employed by industries serving the sector,” said Minister Oliver. “Put that together and you have close to 1.6 million jobs that depend on natural resources — about 10 per cent of all the jobs in Canada. This truly demonstrates the expansive impact this sector has on the Canadian economy.”
Newly estimated numbers demonstrate that, together, the energy, mining and forestry sectors directly account for 15 per cent of Canada’s nominal GDP in 2011.