Labour Market Outcomes in Rural Areas and Small Towns in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This paper examines determinants of employment across different community sizes in the province of Ontario, with a focus on rural areas and small towns. Logistic regression techniques have been applied to the microdata derived from the Canadian Income Survey, 2020, to analyze how different individual characteristics- age, sex, educational attainment, and immigration status affect the probability of being employed. The analysis has been conducted across five geographic categories: i) rural Ontario, ii) towns with a population under 30,000, iii) towns with a population between 30,000 and 99,999, iv) the province of Ontario as a whole,  and v) Canada as a whole. The results highlight that labour market outcomes vary substantially by geography. Rural and small-town residents face systematically different employment prospects in comparison to their urban counterparts. The highest level of educational attainment and sex emerge as significant predictors. The results indicate the requirement for regionally tailored employment and educational policies that address the labour market challenges faced by residents of rural areas and small towns of Ontario.