The Toronto Star’s Royson James wrote an interesting article about job growth in Toronto:

“For the first time in 20 years, growth in downtown commercial real estate is outstripping growth in the rest of the GTA, sparking a revival of fortunes for the once battered 416 region.”

Some of the more stats:

Since 2000, Toronto has added 4.7 million square feet of office space, compared with 3.9 million in Durham, York, Peel and Halton combined.

After 1991, downtown Toronto population growth stalled at 5 per cent or less over any five-year period, even as the 905 area code regions galloped ahead at 17 and 18 per cent growth. But since 2006, downtown Toronto growth has spiked by 16 per cent, while the 905 rose just 13.7 per cent.

The number of businesses in Toronto grew by 3,600 between 2006 and 2011. In the five years prior to that, there was a net loss of 1,700 businesses.

Over the past five years, jobs based in downtown Toronto grew 14 per cent, compared with 8.7 per cent in the rest of the Census Metropolitan Area, roughly equivalent to the GTA. (Provincial growth was 5.6 per cent). Compare that with the previous five years, when downtown jobs dropped 3.3 per cent, while the CMA reached 11 per cent and the province 9.5 per cent growth.

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