Since the type of work that its citizens engage in plays a role in defining a city's character, it's interesting to see that as of 2004, of the 1.14 million jobs in the Vancouver regional area 81.2%, or 932,600, of them were in the services sector, while just 207,800 were in the goods producing sector.
Using data from Statistics Canada, the GVRD reports that the top five industries (by number of employees) within the services sector are as follows:
- Trade (retail and wholesale): 170,400
- Health Care and Social Assistance: 116,300
- Professional Services: 104,500
- Finance, Insurance, Real Estate: 90,300
- Accomodation and Food Services: 89,900
Of the 170,400 jobs in the trade industry, 128,000 are in retail. Legal, architectural, and computer design jobs are included within the professional services segment. Outside of the top five industries, 81,300 people are employed in the educational services industry, and 65,600 are employed in the 'information, culture and recreation' industry.
Statistics Canada counts Vancouver's 79,100 construction jobs as part of the goods producing sector. Within this sector, construction is second to the manufacturing industry, which provides 107,500 jobs. The agriculture industry employs 11,500 people in the Vancouver area, while the forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas industry employs just 4,300 people within the "goods producing" category (presumably several more people are employed in related services).
