Peel’s Economic Pulse

Part 3: Region of Peel

Economic Performance: Jan. – Dec. 2011

Overview of Peel's Perfoamance

The global and national economies continued to emerge from the recent recession, as policy makers focussed on maintaining growth supporting policies in 2011.
In Canada, many of the growth enhancing policies put in place in 2009 to support the Canadian economy out of the recent recession remained in place and helped to create a broad positive macroeconomic environment in which local economies like Peel's were able to continue to show improvements.
In 2011, changes in key economic indicators in Peel remained positive.
These indicators included variables like total population, total taxable assessment base, the total value of building permits, the total number of housing starts and prime labour market variables such as employment and the unemployment rate.
While the positive broad macroeconomic environment was integral to the continuation of positive changes in Peel's economy, the continued positive impact of the many strategic advantages in the local economy were also important in providing the foundation for growth.
These strategic advantages include:
- Peel's location in the large economic center of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and in close proximity to the large US market;
- A highly developed road and transportation network which allows for easy and quick access to the largest market in the world, the USA; and
- A young and educated population.
These characteristics continued to enhance the attractiveness of Peel Region as a destination of choice for both residents and businesses and continued to act as catalysts for sustained growth in areas like population, construction activities and taxable assessment base.
Although Peel's economy remained under the influence of a positive macroeconomic environment and its positive local attributes, the export oriented nature of Peel's economy, combined with the global nature of the recession, allowed for the effects of the recent recession to continue to linger in Peel in 2011.
Peel's economy is highly export driven with export oriented sectors (like manufacturing, trade, transportation and warehousing) accounting for a large percentage of employment and business establishments.
The recession was a global one and that resulted in a contraction of external demand for Canadian goods and services, including the contraction of demand from the large US market, a major trading partner of Peel.
As a result, although the recovery from the recession was also evident in many areas of the economy, other areas of the economy like social support and changes in the manufacturing sector, continued to show the lingering effects of the recession.

POSITIVE MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT AND PEEL'S STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES
SUPPORTED GROWTH IN PEEL IN 2011

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