By the Monster Career Coach
Home of Canada’s federal government, Ottawa boasts the highest number of residents with a post-secondary education in Canada, a bilingual rate of 44 per cent, and more engineers, scientists and PhDs per capita than any other city in the country.
The city of Ottawa lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River. It has a population of 812,000, making it the fourth largest municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario. Ottawa forms part of the National Capital Region (NCR), which encompasses Ottawa, Gatineau (Quebec) and surroundings areas, adding up to a population of over 1,450,000.
Unemployment in Ottawa sits at just 5.1%, among the lowest of all major Canadian cities. This is due in very large measure to the many thousands of government jobs offered in and around the city, and to the continued popularity of Ottawa as a tourist destination.
Movers and Shakers
Unlike some other Canadian cities that rely heavily on manufacturing or commodities as their growth engines, Ottawa has a reasonably diversified economy and a stable workforce. Here are some sectors and industries where growth is notable:
Government Jobs: The federal government is Ottawa-Gatineau's single largest employer. It provides about 119,000 jobs – 18 per cent of the 663,800 in the capital region, according to Statistics Canada. Last year the core public service grew 4.5 per cent. Those numbers increase dramatically when the region’s entire public sector is counted. In 2008, public sector jobs — led by the feds — increased 12 per cent and are on course for another 3.3-per-cent jump this year. That’s an additional 22,000 jobs in two years.
Billions of dollars have been pumped by the government into defense, security, the border and public health — even before the stimulus package aimed at combating the downturn. Some of this money has found its way into the many think tanks, lobbying firms, advertising agencies and other professional services firms that cater to the government.
Tourism: Tourism continues to thrive here because 85 per cent of those who visit the national capital come from within Canada. (About 10 per cent are from the U.S. and the rest are from other countries.) Last year, 7.8 million people visited Ottawa, injecting $1.3 billion into the economy and helping sustain the 24,000 people employed in the industry. Tourism-related jobs include hotel and restaurant staff, travel agents, greeters, guides, marketing communication specialists and others.
Retail: Since the employment situation in Ottawa is so stable, this gives shoppers the confidence to spend on discretionary items, not just on the basics. As a result sales in the retail sector remain strong, and there is demand for sales people, cashiers, counter help, store managers and designers.
Slow Spots
The Kanata/Ottawa West region has been extremely hard hit by the downturn and office space vacancy rates have nearly tripled over the past two years. At present, 900,000 square feet is vacant, representing 19.1% of the existing inventory. Blame part of this on the demise of Nortel, once Ottawa’s leading private sector employer. The remaining high tech sector has also been impacted but is starting to show evidence of picking up again.
Signs of Growth
Meanwhile vacancy rates for office space in downtown Ottawa and Gatineau remained at or near record lows through the first half of 2009, despite the economic turbulence that swept the globe. Combined occupancy rates in downtown Ottawa's Class "A" and Class "B" office buildings still track above 98%, higher than nearly anywhere else in Canada.
Porter Airlines officially opened its new lounge at the
Ottawa International Airport in June 2009, the first of its kind outside of the airline’s base on Toronto Island.
The lounge offers seating, computer workstations, Wi-Fi, and complementary snacks and beverages. Yet another indication that things are humming in Ottawa.
Outlook
With those record low vacancy rates for office space, Ottawa is now considering building five brand new office towers to house federal government employees. This would inject millions of dollars and create many jobs in construction and related trades.
However as the slowdown recedes the federal government might begin to ease back on deficit-funded infrastructure initiatives. It could even cut back on hiring, as a means of reducing the deficit it’s build up since the slowdown started. Residents of Ottawa haven’t forgotten the mid 1990’s, when the federal government downsized nearly a quarter of all public sector employees – some 55,000 people in all.