"Core" employment accounts for 82% of jobs in the Airport Megazone. This compares to 62% for the Greater Golden Horseshoe as a whole, suggesting that the AMZ is relatively concentrated in core, tradeable activities. Employment by planning category and sector[1] 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. For these two sector groupings, the Airport Megazone likely represents the largest concentration of employment in the GGH (approximately 79,000 and 88,000 jobs respectively, representing 13% and 26% of the region's employment in each sector).
Indeed, the AMZ shows a regional specialization in these sectors. Whereas manufacturing, construction, and utilities employment represents 17.2% of all jobs for the Greater Golden Horseshoe as a whole, in the AMZ it represents 26.4% of all jobs. Similarly, warehousing and transportation employment accounts for 9.5% of all jobs in the region, but 29.4% of jobs in the AMZ.
The lion's share of employment in the manufacturing, construction, and utilities sector is found in the manufacturing industries - 64,580 (82%) of the 78,560 jobs in this sector are in manufacturing. Key manufacturing sectors include food; plastics and rubber products; fabricated metal; machinery; and transportation equipment. This latter category represents 9,955 jobs and includes aircraft and related manufacturing, such as Pratt and Whitney and Magellan Aerospace.
The warehousing and transportation sector comprises 38,220 jobs in wholesale trade; 34,550 in transportation; 5,750 in warehousing and storage; and 9,020 in postal and courier services. Many of these jobs are linked directly or indirectly to Pearson Airport. For example, transportation includes 10,140 jobs in air transportation, such as air carriers, and an additional 12,825 jobs in transportation support activities (including airport operations, air traffic control, aircraft maintenance, etc.). There are also 9,755 jobs in truck transportation in the AMZ.
In addition, the AMZ includes regionally significant employment numbers in finance and business services - 60,335 jobs. There are more jobs in finance and business services in the AMZ than the total number of jobs in the North York City Centre (approximately 38,000).
Among finance and business services employment, key industries include commercial and personal banking and related activities (e.g., brokerages), representing almost 8,000 jobs, while an additional 2,395 jobs are in insurance-related activities. The AMZ also includes almost 10,000 telecommunications jobs, with major facilities for operators such as Rogers and Bell in the district.
On the business services side, architectural engineering and related activities account for 4,265 jobs in the AMZ, and computer systems design represents 5,900 jobs. Also significant are administrative and support services, representing 14,685 jobs. This category includes back-office uses such as employment services, security services, and business support services such as call centres.
Lastly, the AMZ contains many hotels and convention centres, representing 3,155 jobs in accommodation services.
[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.