DEVELOPMENT: RESIDENTIAL

Worth of construction work
1960: Canada: $6.9 billion (19% GDP) – 1/3 of it was in Ontario.
Residential construction was 30% of that – 50% in Ontario.
1972: Canada: $17 billion (6% GDP)

Worth of building in Toronto
1950: $55,250,000
1960: $107,470,000

House building boom in the “City of Homes”
1946: 4,204 housing units built in metropolitan Toronto
1951: 70% of Toronto’s housing units were single family homes
1955: 22,016 housing units built in metropolitan Toronto
1951-1961: 460,000 units added to Ontario’s housing stock (a 40% increase)

WORKFORCE

People employed in construction (% of workforce) in Toronto:
1951: 35,701 (7.0%)
1961: 49,174 (6.6%)
1971: 75,525 (6.1%)

Average hourly wages for specific occupations in Toronto, 1945/ 1965
Bricklayers and Masons: $1.23/ $3.65
Carpenters: $1.11/ $3.38
Electricians: $1.21/ $4.10
Painters: $0.97/ $3.00
Plasterers: $1.21/ $3.45
Plumbers: $1.17/ $4.00
Sheetmetal workers: $1.18/ $3.79
Labourers: $0.67/ $2.40

% of variance between low and peak employment in Canada, 1960
All industries: 11.5%
Construction: 56%

IMMIGRATION

Italians in Toronto
1941: 17,887
1951: 27,962 (2.5% of total pop.)
1961: 134,947 (7.7% of total pop.)
1971: 230,205 (10.3% of total pop.)

Italians employed in Toronto’s construction industry:
1951: 3,572
1961: 15,560 (1/3 of Toronto’s construction workforce;  about 65% of residential workforce)

 

Total construction-related fatal accidents in the GTA, 1951-1979: 238; 1950s: 66; 1960s: 109: 1970s: 63