London ONruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Health care & medical research
London Health Sciences Centre (Victoria, University and Children's hospitals), St. Joseph's Health Care London, Lawson Research Institute, Robarts Research Institute, Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre, CSTAR
LHSC alone employs nearly 15,000 physicians, residents and staff and treated over a million patients last year, serving a region far larger than the city. Between LHSC and St. Joseph's, health care is the base of the local economy and the sector that hires most consistently — and the one where professional registration, not immigration, is the real gate.
Education & research
Western University, Fanshawe College, Thames Valley District School Board, London District Catholic School Board, Brescia and Huron university colleges
Western supports roughly 10,000 jobs and its medical school is tied into every hospital in the city; Fanshawe's downtown and main campuses put tens of thousands of students into the rental market on a September and May cycle. Thames Valley DSB, with around 11,900 staff, is one of the largest employers in southwestern Ontario in its own right.
Advanced manufacturing & defence
General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada, Diamond Aircraft, Trudell Medical International, Starlim, Northern Digital
General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada builds light armoured vehicles here and runs the engineering, procurement and in-service support behind them; Diamond Aircraft has built composite aircraft at London International Airport since 1992. This is a smaller, higher-skill manufacturing base than the auto-parts economy of Windsor or Cambridge.
Food processing & agri-food
Maple Leaf Foods, Dr. Oetker, Nestlé Canada, Labatt Brewing, Cargill, Bimbo Canada
Maple Leaf's $660-million poultry plant south of the 401 was built to employ around 1,450 people, and Dr. Oetker's London plant is the North American hub for its pizza business at roughly 400,000 pizzas a day with about 430 staff. London sits in the middle of some of the most productive farmland in Canada, which is why the processors are here.
Insurance, financial services & credit unions
Canada Life, Libro Credit Union, Sun Life, Sanctuary/Ivey-linked funds, Info-Tech Research Group
London Life was founded here in 1874 and the successor Canada Life operation remains one of the largest white-collar employers downtown. Libro Credit Union is headquartered in the city and is a genuine alternative to the national banks for day-to-day banking and small mortgages in southwestern Ontario.
Technology, digital & research services
Info-Tech Research Group, Voices.com, Northern Commerce, Autodata Solutions, TechAlliance, Western Accelerator
Smaller than Waterloo Region an hour east, and real — Info-Tech Research Group is headquartered on Ridout Street North and Voices.com was built here. TechAlliance is the regional innovation centre and the fastest route into the local network. Expect a market where everyone knows everyone rather than one with constant job-hopping.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.