Socioeconomic characteristics of workers in industries dependent on United States demand for Canadian exports

Recent trade tensions between the United States (U.S.) and Canada have raised questions around the impact of potential job losses related to tariffs. A recent article revealed that, in general, jobs in industries dependent on U.S. demand for Canadian exports (IDUSCEXs) are well-paying and have many favourable non-wage job characteristics, but not all industries within the broader IDUSCEX grouping ranked relatively high in these measures. The current article follows up this work by investigating the socioeconomic characteristics of workers employed in IDUSCEXs. Following potential trade-related job losses, the labour market outcomes of affected employees may depend, in part, on these socioeconomic characteristics. The article relies on data from the Labour Force Survey for the years 2023 and 2024. The findings suggest that men were considerably more likely than women to be employed in IDUSCEXs, as were older workers compared with younger ones. Based on family status, individuals in single-earner couples where the man was employed were the most likely to be employed in IDUSCEXs. Conversely, individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher were the least likely to be employed in IDUSCEXs. Among those who were married or in common-law relationships, individuals whose spouse held a bachelor’s degree or higher were also the least likely to be employed in IDUSCEXs. Immigrants born in Southern and Southeast Asia, Southern and Eastern Europe, and South and Central America were considerably more likely to be employed in IDUSCEXs than Canadian-born workers. Finally, individuals living in the following economic regions were the most likely to be employed in IDUSCEXs: Wood Buffalo–Cold Lake, Alberta; Centre-du-Québec, Quebec; and Banff–Jasper–Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca–Grande Prairie–Peace River, Alberta. Those living in Outaouais, Quebec, and Ottawa, Ontario, were the least likely.