by James Tost

TMore scientists and more engineers in a big city means more job growth. That finding in a recent Statistics Canada research paper comparing science and engineering employment in Canadian and U.S. cities should be fairly obvious.

Even number-challenged observers can figure out that large labor markets provided by cities like Toronto make it easier to quickly match the specialized skills of scientists and engineers with the skill requirements of employers. In this area, supply and demand move in the same direction. Big cities also tend to provide the lure of higher paying jobs.

Powerhouse New York-Northeastern New Jersey, the biggest metro area of all with a population base of over 17 million, employed more than 369,193 scientists and engineers in the 2000-2001 census years. Not surprisingly, it ranked first among the top 30 North American cities for the total number of scientists and engineers employed.

Canadian cities in the top 30 for total S&E employment were led by 7th ranking Toronto (population 4.7 million) with 161,552 scientists and engineers. Other Canadian cities included 16th ranking Montreal (population 3.4 million) with 91,523; 21st ranking Ottawa-Carleton (population 1.1 million) with 65,332; and 26th place Vancouver (population 2 million) with 51,280.

Where Ottawa-Carleton really shines though, is in the percentage of its employed workers who actually work in S&E occupations. Silicon Valley North (11.6%), as it likes to be called, ranked 2nd behind San Jose, Calif. (15.7%), which itself is located in the heart of the original Silicon Valley. The only other Canadian companies in the top 30 of this category are Calgary (7.6%), which ranks 22nd and Toronto (6.7%) at 30th.

Getting back to the theory that bigger is better, the StatsCan analysis shows a strong positive relationship between city size and the share of employment in S&E jobs. Cities with a population greater than 4 million have also twice the S&E employment share as cities with the population between 100,000 and 249,000. Keeping in mind that the industry figures relate to the 2001 Canadian Census, in the 500,000-999,999 population grouping, Hamilton ranked 24th among Canadian and U.S. cities with 3.9% of its employment in S&E jobs.

In the 250,000-499,999 population category Kitchener at 4.9% ranked 22nd, Oshawa at 4.6% ranked 25th, London at 4% ranked 34th, Windsor at 3.8% ranked 39th and St. Catharines-Niagara at 2.3% ranked 66th. On an international scale, Canada seems to be keeping pace with the U.S. The study showed that scientists and engineers together accounted for 4.5% of paid employment in both countries.