Economic Development Dashboard

<div>Like many municipalities in Canada and around the world, Ottawa’s economy – particularly the downtown core – continues to evolve in the post-pandemic context. Recognizing new challenges and opportunities, the City of Ottawa has made a diversified and prosperous economy a key strategic priority for this term of Council. To track progress, information on the health of the local economy should be readily available to residents, the business community, and other economic development partners.</div><div><br /></div><div>The dashboard offers a high-level view of Ottawa’s economy and is replacing the quarterly Economic Development Update reports that were previously provided in PDF format to the City’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee and the business community. New data and metrics will be added over time in consultation with the City’s economic development partners.</div><div><br /></div><div>The economic indicators are presented as a series of cards on the dashboard showing the year-over-year trend “at a glance”. A more detailed breakdown can be viewed for each indicator, allowing users to dig deeper into the data. An About the Data section has been included to describe the importance of the metric to Ottawa’s economy and help contextualize this information.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Definitions</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The Economic Development Dashboard contains data on the following indicators for Ottawa’s labour force, real estate, livability and the downtown:</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Labour force</b></div><div><ul><li>Labour Force - persons employed or unemployed and available to work</li><li>Participation Rate - percentage of total population aged 15 years and older in the labour force</li><li>Employed - persons with paid work or self-employment</li><li>Employment Rate - employed persons as a percentage of the total population aged 15 years and over</li><li>Unemployed - persons without paid work or self-employment and available to work</li><li>Unemployment Rate - unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force</li><li>Vacant Positions - vacant positions on the last business day of the month</li></ul></div><div><b>Real estate</b></div><div><ul><li>Housing starts - number of new housing units started</li><li>Construction permits - total value of residential and non-residential construction permits</li><li>Resale price - average price of resale market homes listed in MLS database</li><li>Resale units - number of resale market homes sold listed in MLS database</li><li>Office vacancy - office space (Class A, B, C) available for occupancy immediately or within 30 days</li><li>Retail vacancy - retail space available for occupancy</li><li>Industrial vacancy - industrial space available for occupancy</li></ul></div><div><b>Livability</b></div><div><ul><li>Population - City of Ottawa estimate based on census and municipal building permits</li><li>Consumer price index - measures price changes for fixed basket of goods and services</li><li>Average income - total after-tax income for individuals (market income and government transfers)</li></ul></div><div><b>Downtown focus</b></div><div><ul><li>Population - City of Ottawa estimate for downtown based on census and municipal building permits</li><li>DaytimePop (Environics) - estimate of pop downtown during daytime hours (vs. nighttime pop in census)</li><li>Visits to the ByWard Market - foot traffic recorded within ByWard Market District Authority boundary</li><li>Office vacancy - space in Central Business District available for occupancy immediately or within 30 days</li><li>Retail vacancy - space in the Central Business District available for occupancy</li><li>Food premises - business licenses issued by the City for establishments preparing food (dine-in, takeout)</li><li>Patio/Café permits - permits issued by the City or ByWard Market District Authority for outdoor seating</li><li>Commercial tax revenue - commercial tax revenue collected by the City in the Downtown Core Transec</li></ul></div>