The Five Solitudes of Ontario

The of Ontario A Regional Analysis of Labour Market Performance December 2016 in Post-Recession Ontario Ben Eisen and Joel Emes December 2016 Fraser Institute The Five Solitudes of Ontario A Regional Analysis of Labour Market Performance in Post-Recession Ontario by Ben Eisen and Joel Emes Contents Executive Summary / i Introduction / 1 The Five Solitudes of Ontario / 3 The Great Recession and Its [...] However, as we will show in the following subsections, the make-up of the region’s (and the province’s) employment differs substantially from the other regions of the province when those regions are considered separately. [...] The most striking feature of the composition of employment in the Ottawa region is the heavy concentration of jobs in public administration in the region, owing primarily to the presence of the national capital. [...] While the heavy concentration of jobs in the public administration sec- tor is the defining characteristic of the economy of the Ottawa region, there are other noteworthy features. [...] However, comparing the up-ticks in unemploy- ment rates in 2009 relative to 2008 levels as well as the unemployment rate in the worst year of the recession (2009) provides us with a useful measure of the extent of the shock resulting from the great recession in that year from region to region.