The Port of Montreal supports nearly 600,000 jobs, study finds

The Port of Montreal plays an important role in creating 589,364 jobs and generates $93.5 billion in economic activity, a new study has found.

These figures from an economic study by Martin Associates show the importance of the Port of Montreal to the economies of Canada and Quebec, where 3.5 percent of national GDP ($93.5 billion) and 10 percent of Quebec's GDP ($54.9 billion) will be attributed in part to the port in 2022. business activity of 36 million metric tons (tons) of cargo passed through.

The Economic Impacts of the Port of Montreal study measured the impact of cargo-related services at the Port of Montreal on the Canadian and Quebec economies.

The researchers found that there were 37,774 direct, indirect and induced jobs, including businesses dependent on or serving marine terminals. Employees (direct jobs) earn an average salary of $78,721.

The value of goods handled at the Port of Montreal will be $151.2 billion in 2022, generating a tax impact of $1.5 billion from marine terminal operations.

The study also looked at the economic impact of operations in Ontario and the United States, where the Port of Montreal serves as a gateway to the heart of North America. For Ontario, goods passing through the port supported 154,774 user jobs and a total economic value of $18.9 billion, or two per cent of Ontario's GDP.

In the United States, the port supported 2020 direct, induced and indirect jobs and $145.3 million in economic benefits.

For the past 38 years, Martin Associates has used methodology and definitions to measure the economic impact of seaport operations at more than 700 ports in the United States and Canada. The obtained economic impacts are based on a telephone survey of members of each of the economic sectors serving the port's shipping and cargo services for a total of 1,100 interviews with 800 companies. The study also used data from Statistics Canada and Revenue Canada, as well as the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Tax Foundation and the US Census Bureau's annual survey of state and local government finances.