Canadian Industry Tracker

The Canadian Industry Tracker is a member-only digital tool developed by the Business Data Lab (BDL) that allows users to explore how all major Canadian industries are performing across census metropolitan areas (CMAs).

The Tracker brings together core economic, workforce, trade, and business sentiment indicators that were not previously available in one place at a local level.

The tool reflects BDL’s mission to democratize data and insights and to advance understanding of Canada’s business conditions and trends in more local, forward-looking and timely ways.

The Tracker is built for business leaders, chambers of commerce and boards of trade, policymakers, and analysts looking for practical and local economic insights. No technical expertise is required to use the Tracker.

Subject to data availability, the Tracker covers all major industries (2-digit NAICS) across 41 CMAs in Canada. Users can explore and compare industries across regions.

Key indicators include:
• Number of businesses
• Estimated GDP
• Workforce and youth employment
• Average weekly wages
• Exports
• Productivity (estimated GDP per hour worked)
• Business expectations and outlook indicators
Together, these metrics provide a well-rounded picture of industry health and competitiveness.

Productivity is shown as estimated GDP per hour worked and is designed for comparative insight, not firm-level measurement. Results are presented as an index to highlight relative performance across regions and industries.

Most economic data in Canada is reported at the national or provincial level. The Canadian Industry Tracker fills a critical gap by providing industry-level insights at the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) level, using Statistics Canada data combined with proprietary analytical methods developed by the Business Data Lab.

The Tracker also introduces experimental GDP and productivity estimates at the industry–city level — measures that are not otherwise available in Canada. In addition, for the first time, Canadian industries have been geospatially mapped using data derived from Statistics Canada’s Business Register, enabling consistent, comparable analysis of where industries are located and how they perform across city-regions.

You can use the Tracker to:
• Benchmark your industry against peers in other regions.
• Identify high-performing or fast-changing local industries.
• Support investment, expansion, or workforce planning.
• Inform local advocacy and economic narratives.

The Tracker is updated as new data becomes available, reflecting the release schedules of underlying sources and BDL’s analytical refresh cycles.

The Tracker uses Statistics Canada data as inputs, combined with BDL’s proprietary analytical methods. Outputs are BDL estimates intended to support insight and comparison, not replace official statistics.

The tool is designed for interactive use by members. Use and reuse are governed by the Canadian Chamber’s terms of use. For licensing or collaboration inquiries, members can contact BDL.

The Canadian Industry Tracker combines Statistics Canada data with proprietary analytical methods developed by BDL to provide timely, local industry insights.

Some indicators, including estimated GDP and estimated productivity (GDP per hour worked), are experimental estimates. These estimates are designed to support comparison across industries and regions and are being used because official measures at the industry–city level do not currently exist, despite strong demand from businesses and policymakers.

To produce these estimates, BDL integrates multiple data sources, including:
• Business counts by industry,
• Industry revenue bands,
• Revenue-to-GDP ratios, and
• Observed hours worked.

These inputs are combined to generate consistent, comparable measures across industries and Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). Results are presented as values, indexes, and rankings to support relative comparison rather than precise firm-level measurement. They are best used to understand relative performance and trends, not exact point estimates.

To ensure results are economically reasonable, experimental GDP and productivity estimates are benchmarked against official Statistics Canada industry aggregates. Values that fall outside acceptable variance ranges relative to industry-level benchmarks are excluded from reporting.

In addition, the Tracker incorporates proprietary industry mapping developed in collaboration with Statistics Canada. Industry concentration is identified at the Dissemination Block (DB) level using a kernel density methodology, allowing BDL to map where industries are most concentrated within each CMA. These industry cluster maps are based on businesses with employees and exclude non-employer businesses.

Further technical details on the clustering methodology are available here:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/18-001-x/18-001-x2025001-eng.htm

This approach reflects BDL’s role in responsibly innovating with data, integrating multiple sources, and translating complex information into practical, decision-useful insights for businesses and policymakers.

The Canadian Industry Tracker is BDL’s first exclusive digital product for members, strengthening the Canadian Chamber’s value proposition through actionable, local economic intelligence.

The Tracker strengthens Canadian Chamber membership by providing:
• Practical, local economic intelligence.
• Tools that support better business decisions.
• Evidence to inform advocacy, engagement and storytelling.