Trade and gender: The Canada-Sweden story

Two-way Canadian merchandise trade with Sweden averaged $2.8 billion annually during 2018 and 2019. This was up 10.1% compared to 2016 – the last full-year before preferential tariff treatment under CETA was put into force in 2017.

In 2019, Canada exported $452 million in goods to Sweden and imported $2,288 million worth of goods.

In Canada, 1,911 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to Sweden. Women hold 591 of these jobs.

Top 5 industries

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

• Wholesale trade: 70
• Computer and electronic product manufacturing: 59
• Finance and insurance: 44
• Retail trade: 39
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 38

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the Sweden in 2019 was 1,009, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the Sweden was 5,309.

Women-owned and equally owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 12.5%
• Import value: 11.1%
• Exporters: 19.5%
• Importers: 20.2%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 87.5%
• Import value: 88.9%
• Exporters: 80.5%
• Importers: 79.8%

Women-owned and equally owned Canadian businesses make up a slightly larger portion of importers than exporters, but a slightly smaller portion of imports than exports by 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.