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

The Port of Montreal is pivotal in underpinning 589,364 jobs and generates $93.5 billion in economic activity, a new study has found.

These figures from a Martin Associates economic study indicate the importance of the Port of Montreal to the Canadian and Quebec economies, where 3.5 percent of national GDP ($93.5 billion) and 10 percent of Quebec GDP ($54.9 billion) are due, in part, to the business activities driven by the 36 million metric tons (tonnes) of cargo that moved through the port in 2022.

The study, “Economic Impacts of the Port of Montreal”, measured the impacts of cargo-related activities at the Port of Montreal on the economies of Canada and Quebec.

The researchers found there are 37,774 direct, indirect and induced jobs, including businesses that depend on or provide services to the marine terminals. The employees (direct jobs) earn an average salary of $78,721.

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

The study also provided an overview of the economic impacts of activity in Ontario and the United States, where the Port of Montreal serves as a gateway to the heart of North America. For Ontario, goods transiting through the port supported 154,774 user jobs and $18.9 billion in total economic value, or two percent of Ontario’s GDP.

In the United States the port supported 2,020 direct, induced and indirect jobs and $145.3 million in economic benefits.

Martin Associates used a methodology and definitions to measure the economic impacts of seaport activities at more than 700 ports in the U.S. and Canada over the past 38 years. The resulting economic impacts were based on a telephone survey of members of each of the economic sectors providing services to vessel and cargo activity at the port, 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 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Tax Foundation, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances.