Trade and gender: The Canada-Latvia story

Two-way Canadian merchandise trade with Latvia averaged $644 million annually during 2018 and 2019. This was up 146.9% compared to 2016 —the last full year before preferential tariff treatment under CETA was put into force in 2017.

In 2019, Canada exported $457 million in goods to Latvia and imported $47 million worth of goods.

In Canada, 1,834 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to Latvia. Women hold 510 of these jobs.

Top 5 industries

Jobs held by women that are directly or indirectly supported by goods exports to Latvia:

• Transportation and warehousing: 197
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 43
• Wholesale trade: 37
• Finance and insurance: 37
• Administration and support, waste management and remediation services: 32

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the Latvia in 2019 was 209, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the Latvia was 587.

Women-owned and equally owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: Data not available
• Import value: 13.5%
• Exporters: Data not available
• Importers: 23.4%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: Data not available
• Import value: 86.5%
• Exporters: Data not available
• Importers: 76.6%

Women-owned and equally owned Canadian businesses make up a larger portion of importers than import value.

Notes: Women-, men- and equally owned businesses refer to Canadian-controlled private corporations. The reported fractions are of those for which data on gender of ownership are available.

Direct jobs: Initial trade transactions support jobs directly.

Indirect Jobs: Additional jobs supported indirectly due to an increase in business-to-business (e.g. supply chain) transactions that result from the initial trade.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database 2017, Trade by Exporter Characteristics 2017, Trade by Importer Characteristics 2017 and Canadian Merchandise Trade Database 2019.