According to Statistics Canada, the number of jobs in the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) registered continuing growth for three consecutive months. In February, 7,000 additional jobs were recorded in the area, bringing the total to 452,500 employed people. There was a total of 470,700 individuals in the labour force, an increase of 7,600 people. This is the strongest monthly growth recorded in over 10 years in the area (August 2007).

Growth in the labour force was higher than in employment, which had a small upward impact on the unemployment rate. Consequently, the unemployment rate reached 3.9% last month, while remaining the lowest among the major Canadian CMAs.

Information updated as of March 2019.

Would you like to know more on this subject? Read our complete monthly analysis for March 2019.

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).

The Québec City CMA demonstrated exemplary economic strength in 2017. Data from the Conference Board of Canada recorded a 2.3% increase in real GDP compared to 2016 and reached $34.6 billion.

Increased production revenues in all business sectors propelled the regional economy’s annual growth to more than 2% for the first time since 2011. Québec City continues to expand and maintain its competitive position compared with other Canadian metropolitan regions.

Information updated as of May 2018.

There are more and more real estate development projects in Québec City. In 2017, the size and diversity of these projects helped generate non-residential investment of $912.6 million. The region recorded an 11.3% increase over 2016, which was the second largest among the eight largest Canadian CMAs.

As for the housing market, its performance exceeded expectations in 2017. The region recorded 6,640 housing starts (+ 39.3%), which was only 12 less than the record level established in 2010.

Information updated as of 2018.

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

According to the Conference Board of Canada, the average salary in the Québec City CMA was $42,916 in 2017, an increase of 1.7% compared to 2016 (+2.3 % in the province of Québec). For its part, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 1.1%.

The Québec City CMA maintained its top ranking in the province with a personal disposable income of $30,699 per resident ($28,542 in the province of Québec). The 1.7% increase compared to 2016 exceeded the rate of inflation and thus, improved the population’s purchasing power. Retail sales reached $14.9 billion, which represents an increase of 4.7% compared with 2016.

Information updated as of May 2018.

The Québec City CMA’s population was 812,205 in 2017, an increase of 0.7% compared to 2016. This growth comes from both the natural growth of the population and a positive migration rate. The region had maintained its demographic weight of 9.7% in the province of Québec, which means that the city is in 2nd place.

During the 2016-2017 fiscal year, 3294 international immigrants chose to establish themselves in Québec City. The tally over the last five years (2012 to 2017) brings the number of newcomers to 16,308, an increase of 19.3% over the 2007-2012 period.

Information updated as of May 2018.