Portrait of English-Speaking Workers in Quebec's Agriculture and Agri-Food Industries, 2006 and 2016

The author offers a statistical portrait of the 1,790 Quebec farms whose main operators are English-speaking, and of the change, between 2006 and 2016, in the social and economic profile of English-speaking workers active in Quebec's agriculture and agri-food industries. In 2016, 4,525 English speakers aged 15 or older were working in Quebec’s agriculture industry, representing 6.3 percent of the province’s agricultural workers. The author notes that this number was relatively stable between 2006 and 2016. The number of English-speaking agri-food workers aged 15 or older increased sharply between 2006 and 2016, from 63,915 to 81,405. The proportion of English-speaking workers in the province’s agri-food sector rose from 12.9 percent in 2006 to 14.7 percent in 2016. The author also points out that Quebec’s population of English-speaking agricultural workers is aging. The proportion of those aged 55 or older rose from 31.0 percent in 2006 to 36.5 percent in 2016. This proportion was lower among their French-speaking counterparts in 2006 (22.3 percent) and 2016 (34.6 percent). The median employment income of English-speaking agricultural workers ($11,620) was lower than that of their French-speaking counterparts ($15,755) in 2016. This gap widened between 2006 ($2,705) and 2016 ($4,135). There was also a gap in favour of French speakers ($1,470) among agri-food workers in 2016.

Statistics Canada (Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series)

March 1, 2021

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