Canadian automotive employment during the first half of 2021 rose 8.3% for dealerships and 6.2% for automotive retail and maintenance, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC).
“Employment figures were impacted heavily last year as the automotive industry rushed to adapt to the emerging pandemic,” said DAC in a news release. “By the first half of 2021 the industry had adapted and employment figures showed some gains.”
However, DAC said this recovery is uneven, especially with the semiconductor shortage impacting its improvement in some areas.
For example, total employment across the broader automotive industry rose 5.8% on average above the first half of 2020. In June specifically, approximately 648,000 employees were recorded—up 10.0% from June 2020. But when looking at the individual areas of automotive, employment in motor vehicle manufacturing fell 0.4% during H1 of 2021, rose 1.7% for automotive parts and accessories stores, and jumped 9.8% for motor vehicle parts and accessories manufacturing during the same period
“While some measure of recovery relative to the previous year is evident, that is not representative of the full picture,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner of DAC. “Employment counts across nearly all automotive categories still remained below average 2019 counts.”
So while employment in motor vehicle parts and accessories manufacturing managed the largest increase in H1 of 2021, assembly employment remained suppressed, “bogged down by the supply-side challenges and shifting production focuses,” according to DAC.
And automotive retailers, which is the largest employment category, experienced an average increase in employment of more than 142,000 people—well above last year’s numbers, but still below 2019 levels.
