Fast Facts

The industry’s annual revenues total $2.3 billion.

There are about 2,700 testing laboratory facilities in Canada.

The industry is concentrated in four provinces – Alberta has 39% of total lab facilities, Ontario has 28%, followed by B.C. at 15% and Quebec at 12%.

Lab clusters, or locations where there is a concentration of lab operations, are evident in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

The industry is made up of many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). About three-quarters of all lab facilities in Canada have fewer than 10 employees. Across the country, there are only 12 lab locations with 200 or more employees.

The testing laboratories industry in Canada employs about 20,000 people.

Testing laboratories are a knowledge-based industry. Over 40% of the industry’s employees are university graduates, largely with science and engineering degrees.

The industry pays about $975 million a year in wages, salaries and benefits.

Testing labs are labour-intensive businesses. Salaries, wages and benefits account for about one-half (47%) of the industry’s operating expenses.

The average annual salary per employee is about $50,000.

The industry provides “high-value employment with average wages and salaries greater than those found in the economy as a whole.”

GDP in the testing laboratories industry increased more than 20% between 2005 and 2011 – compared to an increase of 9% for the overall economy during the same period.

The types of testing services provided by the industry in Canada include: