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March 07, 2022HEAD OFFICES IN CANADA, 2020 Statistics Canada reports on the number of and employment in head office locations across Canada. Head offices include establishments and locations primarily engaged in providing management and/or administrative support services to affiliated establishments. The activities include corporate functions such as strategic organizational planning, communications, tax planning, legal services, marketing, finance, human resource management and information technology services.
The number of head offices in Canada has decreased in 2020 to 2,694 from (2,736 in 2019). Of these, the largest number are found in Canada's larger urban provinces - Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. In particular, these head offices are more concentrated in larger cities.
There are fewer head office locations in the Atlantic provinces as well as in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Nova Scotia's head office count was 63 in 2020, a slightly lower level from (64 in 2019). Since 2012, there has been stability or small declines in the number of head offices in most provinces.
The number of head office employees was down in 2020 to 210,262 in Canada. Nova Scotia accounted for 2,950 of these employees. As with locations, larger urban provinces (and the larger urban centres within them) account for the bulk of head office employment in Canada.
Note: In 2020, the data for Quebec City and Ottawa/Gatineau head office locations as well as Ottawa/Gatineau employment was suppressed.
Larger and more urban provinces also report more head office employees per location - reaching as high as 130.0 per location in Calgary. British Columbia is the exception to this, with an average of only 54.3 head office employees per location. Nova Scotia's head office locations report an average of 46.8 head office employees each - only Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and the Territories report fewer head office employees per location, at the provincial level.
Over 2014-2020, Head Office employment in Nova Scotia peaked in 2019 and then declined in 2020. Since 2018 head office employment in Canada has declined with decreases in eight provinces and territories and increase observed in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Source: Statistics Canada, Table: 33-10-0110-01
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