The Ontario Construction Secretariat provided an update on the province’s construction economy during its annual general meeting in September. The top-line message: optimism remains high, despite slow GDP growth.

In its report, OCS says economic growth in Ontario is expected to drop to its slowest rate since 2013 through the end of this year and into next. On average, says OCS, “it’s forecasted that Ontario’s growth will slow to 1.6% in 2019, down from 2.2% in 2018. Ontario’s economy Is also expected to grow by 1.6% in 2020.”

Yet despite this fact, there are reasons for optimism. Construction employment, for example, is at an all-time high. Through September of this year, an average of 540,000 workers have been employed in the industry. This represents an increase of nearly 3 percent over the same period in 2018. Since 2010, Ontario’s construction employment has grown by about 22% while employment in all industries of the province has increased by 14% over the same period.

Additionally, building permit values for the first eight months of the year in Ontario have risen 13 percent over the same period last year. The value of industrial and commercial permits are up 17 percent and 16 percent over 2018, while the value of institutional permits is up 1 percent.