The province of Quebec has been on hold since March 25, and so has the region’s labour market. Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for April 2020, released by Statistics Canada, helps get a sense of the immediate impacts of the lockdown on the labour market. However, the available data for the Québec City CMA only offers a glimpse of the situation due to the complexity of the pandemic’s effects and the statistical treatment applied by Statistics Canada.

In April 2020, there were an estimated 400,000 jobs in the region, a 26,600 drop compared to March (-6.2%). This decrease, attributable to the effects of COVID-19, is even steeper when compared with February 2020: a decrease of 38,300 jobs (‑8.7%). The unemployment rate in the Québec City CMA reached 9.5%, a significant increase of 5.4 percentage points points since the beginning of the crisis (February 2020).

Information updated as of May 2020.

Would you like to know more on this subject? Read our complete monthly analysis for April 2020.

Do you want to know more about the region’s main employers? Download Québec City CMA’s list of top employers by business sector (PDF, 305KB).

Economic vitality in the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) and a robust labour market supported consumption, a major component of gross domestic product (GDP). Investment, however, was supported by the level of residential investment, with growth reaching a record high in 2018. Not to be outdone, public investment also contributed to the CMA’s economic growth. Overall, the area maintained a growth level similar to that of 2017 (2.4%), a performance that brought the CMA’s real GDP to $35.8B in 2018.

Information updated as of May 2019.

In 2018, the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ, Quebec’s statistics institute) estimated non-residential capital expenditures at $3.5B, a third annual increase, up 3.1% from 2017. This moderate growth, compared to other cities in the province, follows two years during which the area had been a leader in Quebec.

Statistics Canada estimated that the residential sector had generated investments of $2.2B, a 10.6% increase compared to the previous year. This is a record high in the area since 2015, when the data series was initiated, and one of the most significant increases in Eastern Canada behind Montréal. Like in the rest of Canada, the annual increase of investments for the construction of multi-family homes (+26.9%) compensated the drop in single-family homes (-8.0%).

Information updated as of April 2019.

Do you want to know about the current or future investments? Browse our list of current and announced major investment projects (PDF, 302KB).

In 2018 the average annual salary in the Québec City CMA grew to just under $45,000, a moderate increase of 2.6%. This increase was mostly due to the contributions by the vast majority of the occupational sectors. This growth exceeded inflation, resulting in the consumer price index (CPI) growing overall by 1.5%. Although this was the highest of five consecutive years of growth in the CMA, it is still only moderate growth, and remains below both the provincial and national average. Consequently, the purchasing power of Québec City residents actually increased, and the CMA continues to distinguish itself in the province with the highest personal disposable income (PDI), at $32,541. As for consumption, a crucial economic indicator of growth, the total value of retail sales reached $15.7B in 2018. The number of bankruptcies declined for both individuals (1,973 cases) and businesses (177 cases), decreasing by 7% and 8.3% respectively as compared to 2017.

Information updated as of April 2019.

According to the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ), there were 817,408 residents in the area in 2018, a 0.8% increase compared to the previous year. Despite lower growth compared to the provincial average (+1.1%), the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) remains the second most populated in the province. This means that Québec City retains its demographic weight of 9.7%, behind the Montréal CMA (50.7%).

In 2018, population growth was supported by natural increase and immigration, which is consistent with the ISQ’s most recent forecast scenario. The population ageing phenomenon also continues to grow and will remain a concern in the years to come.

Information updated as of May 2019.