"Core" employment accounts for 80% of jobs in the TYW megazone. This compares with 62% for the Greater Golden Horseshoe as a whole, suggesting that the TYW is relatively concentrated in core, tradeable activities. Employment by planning category and sector1 is shown in Table 2 in the Appendix.
The data indicate significant numbers of jobs in the manufacturing, construction, and utilities sector, as well as in the warehousing and transportation sector. Indeed, given the predominance of the core industrial activities of manufacturing, distribution, wholesaling, transportation, and construction, the district could be considered the region's workshop.
Whereas manufacturing, construction, and utilities employment represents 17% of all jobs for the Greater Golden Horseshoe as a whole, in the TYW megazone they represent 41% of all jobs. Similarly, warehousing and transportation account for 10% of all jobs in the region, but 17% of jobs in the TYW megazone, indicating a strong regional specialization in all of these activities.
Manufacturing is by far the most significant industry in the district. Of the 57,990 jobs in the manufacturing, construction, and utilities sector, 77% (44,480 jobs) are in manufacturing. Key manufacturing industries include transportation equipment (9,490 jobs); furniture and related (6,535 jobs); fabricated metal products (4,740 jobs); food (3,505 jobs) and plastics and rubber (3,250 jobs).
The remaining jobs in the manufacturing, construction, and utilities category are almost entirely found in construction. With 11,515 jobs in 2011, this industry has a strong presence in the megazone.
The warehousing and transportation sector comprises 15,905 jobs in wholesale trade, 4,005 in transportation, 1,815 jobs in postal service and couriers, and 1,210 in warehousing and storage. Perhaps surprisingly, given the presence of the CN multimodal facility, of more than 4,000 transportation jobs, only 840 are directly in rail transportation.
In the wholesale category, the most significant sub-sectors are personal and household goods (4,625 jobs), machinery and equipment (3,345 jobs), and building materials and supplies (2,680 jobs).
In addition, the TYW megazone includes 19,500 jobs in the finance and business services sector. Most of these are in business services rather than finance. The most significant category is administrative and business support services, with a total of 4,050 jobs. These are typically "back-office" uses, including employment services, services to buildings, and business support (such as payroll).
Other business services include 2,040 jobs in architecture and engineering, 1,455 jobs in legal services, 1,285 jobs in computer systems, and 1,170 in accounting services.
Among finance and related employment, 1,405 jobs are in finance, 990 in insurance, and 1,845 in real estate.
Of the 6,925 jobs in the higher education and hospital sector, most are employment related to York University.
The TYW is more industrially oriented than the two other megazones, and has a diversified industrial base rather than specific industry clusters. Many manufacturing jobs are in traditional sectors, such as food and furniture. There are fewer jobs in the finance and business services sector compared with the other two GGH megazones.
[1] The planning categories used here (industrial, offices, etc.) are designed to link processes of economic restructuring and change with built environment characteristics relevant to planning. Shares do not necessarily add to 100% as a result of data suppression associated with breaking down data by NAICS code and census tracts.