Toronto, Canada Trends

This city is huge not only in land-area size and population, but also in the vastness of its multiculturalism, business, tourist attractions, cultural opportunities, Chinatown, mega-bookstores...it is impossible to name them all outside of a large directory.

Over 5,600,000 people live in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with a little fewer than half of them living in the City of Toronto itself. This makes the population nearly three times that of my city and our streets are already so crowded that sometimes its faster to walk a mile than to drive it. I think one could stay lost in Toronto for several days.

Millions of tourists visit Toronto and its suburbs annually, while permanent residency is not increasing much (less than a single percent yearly).

A colleague of mine talked about his visits to Toronto often and described his favorite record shop - one he visited as often as he could take vacations. On his first visit, the moment he stepped in the doorway he knew he'd been there before, but he had not. Before proceeding into the shop, he knew every corner of it on its different levels and in different rooms. It was like magic for him.

This shop was Sam The Record Man, which became a chain, but declined and closed the original large store in 2007.

Photos around the Internet of the interior show that it looked exactly like one of the large 5-and-10-cent stores in Central Ohio, except that Sam's was completely filled with records and musical items.

Live, Work and Retire in Toronto

Another friend of mine takes vacation days from work to spend many long weekends in Toronto's Chinatown, her favorite spot and the site of many festivals.

With all the hurry to get to good times in Toronto, why is it not on the Top 10 Best Places to Live list produced by MoneySense each year?

It seems that "Everyone" wants to go have fun in Toronto, but the city usually does not make the Top 10 Best Places to Work, Live, or Retire. It is a bit like the locale in the film Blade Runner (1982) with its frenetic supercity of the future.

The Fourth Most Livable City in the World

MoneySense uses a different set of criteria for choosing its choice cities, while The Economist magazine awards Toronto the fourth-place standing in its Top 10 Most Livable Cities in the World roundup.

Criteria for selection to this list include a significant availability of goods and services, low overall personal risk, and a well-maintained, updated infrastructure. The threat of terrorism is considered low in these cities as well. However, The Economist chooses largely English-speaking cities and this has drawn criticism from media outlets.

Elements that lower Toronto's ranking for MoneySense:

Unemployment rate:

• Victoria BC (#1) - 3.3% in the early 2010s
• Toronto ON (#79 or 85) - 7.6%

Number of Days yearly befow 0^oC:

• Victoria - 53
• Toronto - 148

Violent Crimes per 100,000 population:

• Victoria - 859
• Toronto - 968

Number of Homeless per 100.000 population:

• Victoria - 1.2
• Toronto - 3.6

Population Growth from 2001 - 2006:

• Victoria - 5.80%
• Toronto - 0.88%

The cost of housing also takes up, on average, a larger proportion of household income in Ontario than it does in many other Canadian cities.

MoneySense's Best Places to Live and Retire in Canada

The cities names in Ontario Province are located around the healthy economic area called "The Golden Horseshoe."

1. Kingston ON
2. Ottawa-Gatineau ON
3. Burlington ON
4. London ON
5. Fredericton NB
6. Vancouver BC
7. Victoria BC
8. Courtenay BC
9. Cobourg ON
10. Joliette QC

Ontario is MoneySense's top pick for best province for retirement, with five communities, many near Toronto, ranking in the top 10 recomendations.

The Cabbagetown Preservation Association maintains a mission to preserve the historical landmarks of this region at the east end of Downtown Toronto. This includes architectural integrity of the neighborhood in an official Heritage Conservation District.

Revitalization of urban areas and other neighborhoods of Toronto is important to residents, visitors, and business enterprises in that ongoing development and preservation increases economic growth and improves ways of life.

A great many activities are ongoing in Cabbagetown. These include the annual Forsythia Festival each May, Cabagetown Festival every September, and productions of the Toronto Dance Theatre and School, the Danny Grossman Dance Company, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, and TILT Sound + Motion. The Annual Cabbagetown Short Film & Video Festival is also a treat here.

Shopping and Leisure

• Toronto Eaton Centre Information and Events; 220 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 2H1. Phone (416) 598-8560.
• Yonge-Dundas Square

  A public square on the South-East corner of Yonge St. and Dundas St. in Toronto, Canada that hosts music, film, and community events (almost all FREE!)

• Re: Reading - A Used Book Oasis in the Heart of the Danforth

  Re:Reading is a great used and rare book store with over 20,000 books/DVDs/ CDs/Comics/Rare & 1st Editions.

Comedy, Culture and The Arts

• Centreville Amusement Park: Located on the Toronto Islands.
• Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: 145 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5H 4G1, Canada.
• Gallery 44 - Centre for Contemporary Photography. www.gallery44.org/
• Hollander York Gallery Current Exhibition: www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/your-visit/exhibitions/
• The National Ballet of Canada is Canada's premier dance company and is recognized internationally as one of the world's best. Purchase tickets, watch video, and learn more about this prestigious cultural institution.

• The Second City - 50 Years of Funny
• THE POWER PLANT | CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY
• Toronto Symphony Orchestra - Home

Museums and History

• AGO Art Gallery of Ontario; 317 Dundas Street West Toronto, Ontario.
• Canadian Air and Space Museum
• Design Exchange: National Design Museum
• Ontario College of Art and Design; 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 1W1.
• Royal Ontario Museum: The Royal Ontario Museum increases understanding of world cultures and natural history through its collections, programs and courses, special events, exhibitions and research.
• The Distillery Historic District: Two blocks long, between Mill Street And Distillery Lane located downtown near the waterfront of Lake Ontario.

Higher Education for Higher-Paying Jobs

Higher education facilities in Toronto include museums, theaters, art galleries, and music auditoriums. Higher education facilities help to stimulate the arts and music, create new jobs, and draw students into the area that may stay long-term after graduation.

Colleges and Universities

• Ontario College of Art & Design
• Ryerson University
• University of Toronto: Scarborough/Toronto and Mississauga
• University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• York University

Community and Vocational Colleges

• Centennial College
• Durham College (campuses in Brock, Cobourg, Port Hope, Scugog, Oshawa, Uxbridge)
• George Brown College
• Humber College
• Seneca College (campuses in King, Markham, Newmarket, Toronto)
• Sheridan College - Brampton

Comparisons: Average Annual Incomes for Major Occupations

Average wages from 2012 through 2015 for select occupations in Toronto and suburbs shows data available at WowJobs.com.

1. Project Manager $89,784
2. Controller $82,163
3. Financial Analyst $65,467
4. Senior Financial Analyst $75,025
5. Executive Director $67,833
6. Executive Assistant $45,194
7. Accountant $53,158
8. Administrative Assistant $34,025
9. Customer Service Representative $29,674
10. Receptionist $26,330

Toronto Jobs Increased 2010 Through 2018

• 59,000+ jobs were listed in September 2018.
• 57,022 jobs were advertised in September 2017 (more than double since 2010)
• 48,000 listings in January 2015
• 28,000 listings in January 2010

Thousands of job vacancies are listed from across the Internet and gathered by Major job search engines for Toronto, Ontario.

WOW Jobs in Canada list quite a number of these jobs and, in fact, opened its USA sister search engine WOWjobs.US with First Quarter 2015 job listings numbering at 300,000,000+ jobs across Canada.

The bulk of the jobs available in Toronto are within careers of Business, Finance, and Sales. Companies posting the largest numbers of jobs include banks, other financial institutions, and IT related businesses.

This trend matches the predicted Job Futures for Toronto as far as the Businesses Services part of the forecasts reaches, as listed it the link below. Tourism seems to be on the increase, along with Canadian cruise line jobs and should begin to fulfill the predictions for increases in Accommodations/Food Service moving forward.

Top 10 Hot Job Titles

1. Project Managers: These projects occur in several fields of business, as well as in Information Technology (IT) itself.
2. Business Analysts
3. Administrative Assistants
4. Financial Analysts
5. Bilingual Customer Service Representatives - French and English
6. Receptionists
7. Assistant Managers
8. Customer Service Representatives
9. Executive Assistants
10. Account Managers.

Companies Listing the Most Jobs Available

1. Sapphire Canada: IT staffing, division of Randstad.
2. Robert Half Technology: IT/Accounting staffing firm.
3. Deloitte: Professional services staffing.
4. Scotiabank
5. The People Bank
6. Bilingual Group
7. BMO Financial Group
8. Brainhunter
9. Rogers Media
10. RBC Financial Group
11. Apple One - Staffing firm.
12. TD Bank Financial Group

One of the world's largest Chinatown districts, the Toronto Chinatown Business Improvement Area offers the Toronto Chinatown Festival as an annual celebration of Canada's diverse cultures and communities. The not-for-profit Festival not only pays tribute to Chinese culture, it is also a tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world.

Additional Attractions

• Hockey Hall of Fame

  Official Hockey Hall of Fame website. Home to hockey's greatest players. Unrivaled collection of photos, statistics, profiles, global coverage, trivia, games and Cyber-store merchandise.

• Niagara Parks Canada

  Niagara Falls vacation packages, discount passes, tourism information for Niagara Parks and Niagara Falls attractions.

• Toronto Zoo | Canada's premier Zoo

  The Toronto Zoo is Canada's premier zoo known for its interactive education and conservation activities. As a unique wildlife experience, we inspire people to live in ways that promote the well being of the natural world.