THE EVOLUTION OF POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT ACROSS DISTRICTS IN NORTHERN ONTARIO

In Northern Ontario the post-1945 shift from slowing population growth to absolute decline occurred at different rates and times in different districts (or census divisions), but by the 1990s the decline had become generalized to most districts. In this chapter we examine the population and employment peaks of these changes by district, the patterns of decline, and their relation to the employment–population ratio. This longer-term perspective is useful since analyses of Northern Ontario conditions for shorter periods are prone to conflate longer-term structural trends with shorter-term cyclical movements, especially those related to natural resource prices and production. The district-level