Details before going further than The daily obtained these figures from the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity. The last update was made in June.
So, Rio Tinto. In 2007, when the mining became the owner of Alcan, there were 6,540 employees in the region, specifies the president at Groupe Performance Strategic (GPS), Roger Boivin.
In 2019, there were 4474. “It stabilized. We are in a good Rio Tinto period now. We see it with investments, ”observes the one who lent himself to the game of analysis. GPS specializes in studying the economic impacts of the industrial and municipal sectors.
Arrives second position, Domtar, formerly resolved forest products. “This new owner brings some questions, but the biggest issue is the transition. You have to get out of the paper and turn to the enhancement of wood chips, ”comments Mr. Boivin. He also recalls that all of Quebec’s paper mills produce 42 % of the newspaper consumed in the United States.
However, the region remains very well positioned in the forest sector due to the quality of its raw material, accessibility by forest paths as well as the proximity of paper mills and sawmills.
“The forest industry remains the largest in the region. It is present in all communities and, in addition, we do transformation. It is 13,000 direct and indirect jobs, against 8,500 for aluminum. ”
— Roger Boivin, president of GPS
Still in the forest industry, our analyst points out to us that Rémabec has 283 jobs and should find himself in eighth position. “He is the third biggest player in Quebec, after Domtar and Kruger. They only fail to be able to transform their shavings. ”
Proudly regional
The president of GPS stresses that half of the largest employers are held by regional interests, including the Fernand Gilbert group with 1495 employees.
“The Fernand Gilbert group is in the third generation. It is growing and diversifying with great potential. ”
He also notes that Proco and Canmec are two healthy companies and that they have great development potential in the coming years with the maritime strategy as well as the Hydro-Québec projects. Then Niobec, in Saint-Honoré, has the possibility of interesting growth with rare earths.
The president of GPS also targets Nutroror and his 574 workers. “It is the first billionaire regional company with its turnover. It is a remarkable cooperative and they consolidated the whole sector by purchasing Fortin charcuterie and the Perron cheese dairy. ”
It is unsurprisingly that we also find CGI in this list with nearly 450 people in Chicoutimi. “The challenge, however, with this type of business is telework. In the long term we will lose these jobs?, Wonders our speaker. At the same time, the region also benefits from telework because it increases its demography from the pandemic. ”
Shops and food
Man did his homework. He releases a list of several other companies that make a lot of people work in the region.
“There is shock mode of the Roussy family, with 11 shops and 550 employees in Quebec and New Brunswick. These are five shops and 275 employees in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. ”
One can also think of the Laval Boulianne group in Alma, which notably holds the Universal Hotel, the Pacini, the Delta and the Boston Pizza. “It’s more than 300 people in total.”
And the Dumas group in Saint-Félicien with its fifteen car or LCR dealers who hold ten branches and employs more than 150 people.
“We can also think of Gagnon Frères, Food Group Boutin and Ferlac. We have great health companies in the region, ”underlines Roger Boivin.
Private versus public
The Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean has 130,000 jobs, including 85,000 in the private sector in 8,000 companies.
Among employers in the public domain, the most important is the CIUSSS with more than 12,450 employees. The UQAC counts 620 employees in addition to the 275 teachers and 950 lectures. Then, the city of Saguenay, 1,500 employees and 200 summer jobs.
