Canada's Resource Economy: GDP, Exports and Jobs

Mining and energy’s share of Canada’s GDP, exports and jobs, with dated NRCan and Statistics Canada figures and a look at how prices swing the totals.

Natural resources made up 16.0% of Canada’s nominal GDP in 2024, counting direct and indirect activity, and 53% of the country’s merchandise exports, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Energy is the larger piece by output. Minerals and metals employ a similar number of people once supplier jobs are counted. The totals swing hard with commodity prices, so the year on every figure matters.

The headline figures for 2024

NRCan’s annual “10 Key Facts” summary gives the broad picture. All figures are for 2024 unless noted.

Measure	Value
Share of nominal GDP, direct and indirect	16.0% ($459 billion)
Direct share / indirect share	12.7% / 3.3%
Direct share by sector	Energy 7.8%, minerals and metals 3.9%, forest 1.0%
Jobs, direct and indirect	1.8 million (958,000 direct, 819,000 indirect)
Merchandise exports	$383 billion, 53% of the total
Major projects planned over the next 10 years	504 projects, $632.6 billion
Government revenues, annual average 2019 to 2023	$33.7 billion

Direct figures count activity inside the resource industries themselves. Indirect figures add the suppliers that sell to them, such as equipment makers, engineering firms and transport companies. NRCan’s more detailed sector publications report slightly different figures for the same year. We cite each one as published and name the source.

Energy: the largest share of output

NRCan’s Energy Fact Book 2025 to 2026 puts the energy sector’s direct contribution at 8.1% of nominal GDP in 2024, or $232 billion. Indirect activity added 1.7% ($50 billion), for a combined 9.8% ($282 billion).

Jobs: 316,200 direct and 428,300 indirect, for 744,500 in total.
Exports: $208.2 billion of energy products, 29% of Canada’s goods exports. Of that, $184.3 billion, or 89%, went to the United States.
Government revenue: an average of $24.4 billion a year from 2019 to 2023. Royalties were $17.2 billion of it (70%) and income taxes $6.9 billion (28%).

With 89% of energy exports going to one country, US trade policy matters to the sector alongside prices. We covered that in Canada and US trade in 2026.

Minerals and metals: smaller output, well-paid jobs

NRCan’s minerals economy data for 2024:

GDP: $112 billion direct and $44 billion indirect, $156 billion in total, about 5% of GDP.
Jobs: 438,000 direct and 286,000 indirect, 724,000 in total. Average annual compensation in mining was $146,213, against $78,098 across all industries.
Production: more than 60 minerals and metals worth $64.3 billion. Gold was the largest single contributor at 26%.
Exports: $153.0 billion of mineral and metal products, 21% of merchandise exports. The top buyers were the United States ($79.3 billion), the United Kingdom ($22.7 billion) and China ($9.5 billion).
Exploration: $4.1 billion, with precious metals, mainly gold, taking 44%.
Taxes: mining paid $6.8 billion in corporate income taxes and royalties in 2023, 58% of it as mining taxes and royalties.
Indigenous employment: more than 17,300 people, 11% of the upstream mining workforce.

Mineral exports are less concentrated than energy. The US took about 52% of them in 2024 ($79.3 billion of $153.0 billion), against 89% for energy.

The math: prices move GDP more than people do

Statistics Canada’s natural resource indicators (table 36-10-0624-01) use a narrower definition than NRCan, so the levels are lower. The series is useful for seeing how the sector moves from year to year.

Year	Natural resources GDP	Energy GDP	Minerals and mining GDP	Natural resources jobs
2019	$241.7B	$165.3B	$51.5B	640,714
2020	$198.5B	$120.8B	$50.1B	574,094
2021	$304.0B	$197.7B	$68.8B	615,401
2022	$404.1B	$288.7B	$84.1B	649,545
2023	$355.1B	$249.3B	$79.3B	665,042
2024	$355.8B	$249.2B	$78.8B	671,064

From 2020 to 2022, nominal GDP in the sector rose from $198.5 billion to $404.1 billion, an increase of about 104%. Energy GDP rose about 139%, and minerals and mining GDP about 68%. Over the same two years, sector jobs rose from 574,094 to 649,545, about 13%. Output in dollars more than doubled while employment grew by about an eighth.

The same table shows real GDP, in 2017 dollars. On that basis, sector GDP rose from $207.7 billion in 2020 to $225.4 billion in 2022, about 8.5%. Nearly all of the nominal jump came from prices, which is why a single year’s GDP share says as much about commodity prices that year as about the size of the industry.

A second check: energy ($208.2 billion) and minerals ($153.0 billion) exports together came to $361.2 billion in 2024. That is about 94% of the $383 billion in natural resource exports NRCan reports, with forestry and other products making up the rest.

The latest quarter

Statistics Canada also publishes the indicators quarterly, about 90 days after each quarter ends. In the fourth quarter of 2025, released April 2, 2026, natural resources nominal GDP was $354 billion at an annual rate, 11.5% of the economy. Real GDP in the sector slipped 0.2% from the prior quarter, jobs rose 0.2%, and export volumes rose 3.0%, led by energy (up 4.6%) and minerals and mining (up 3.2%). Forestry was the weak spot, with real GDP down 3.2% and export volumes down 5.8%. By sub-sector, jobs rose 0.6% in minerals and mining and 0.2% in energy, and fell 0.6% in forestry. Import volumes of natural resource products fell 2.0%. First-quarter 2026 data followed on June 29, 2026, with revisions to all quarters of 2025.

What to watch

Statistics Canada’s quarterly natural resource indicators, published about 90 days after each quarter ends.
NRCan’s annual updates to the 10 Key Facts, the Energy Fact Book and the minerals economy pages, which reset the full-year figures.
Monthly merchandise trade data from Statistics Canada, which shows energy and metal export values and the US share.
NRCan’s annual count of major resource projects and their planned investment.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of Canada’s GDP comes from natural resources?

Natural Resources Canada estimates natural resources accounted for 16.0% of nominal GDP in 2024, or $459 billion, counting direct and indirect activity. The direct share was 12.7%. By sector, direct shares were energy 7.8%, minerals and metals 3.9% and forest 1.0%. Statistics Canada put the sector at 11.5% of the economy in the fourth quarter of 2025.

How many jobs does mining create in Canada?

NRCan reports the minerals sector directly employed 438,000 people in 2024 and supported 286,000 indirect jobs, for 724,000 in total. Average annual compensation in mining was $146,213, against $78,098 across all industries. More than 17,300 Indigenous people work in the sector, 11% of the upstream mining workforce.

How much of Canada’s exports are energy and minerals?

In 2024, energy exports were $208.2 billion, 29% of Canada’s goods exports, with 89% going to the United States. Mineral and metal exports were $153.0 billion, 21% of merchandise exports, with the US, the UK and China as top buyers. All natural resource exports totalled $383 billion, 53% of merchandise exports.

Canada’s Resource Economy by the Numbers: GDP, Exports and Jobs