In North Central, the employment story starts close to the land. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting is the region’s largest sector, with 3,144 jobs in 2025. That represents 14.6% of all workers aged 15 and over.
The bigger story is the region’s spread. North Central has 21,509 workers across agriculture, health care, manufacturing, education, retail and other services. No single sector carries the whole labour market.
Figure 1. North Central’s employment base is spread across agriculture, health care, manufacturing, education, retail and other major service sectors. Agriculture leads with 3,144 jobs, followed closely by health care and social assistance.
Who employs the most people?
Agriculture leads the region, but several other sectors sit close behind. Health care and social assistance employs 2,998 people, or 13.9% of the workforce. Manufacturing follows with 2,282 jobs, accounting for 10.6%. Educational services adds 2,019 jobs, while retail trade supports 1,872 workers.
That mix matters. It gives North Central a labour market built around both land-based industries and essential local services.
The fastest growth is coming from small industries
Some of the sharpest gains are appearing in very specific niches.
Figure 2. North Central’s fastest-growing industries are small but active, led by ventilation, heating, air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturing, which reached 61 jobs in 2025.
Ventilation, heating, air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturing reached 61 jobs after growing 454.6% in one year. Over five years, the industry increased by 6000.0%. Support activities for forestry climbed to 26 jobs, with growth of 225.0% over one year and 766.7% over five years. Home health care services rose to 11 jobs after a 266.7% one-year increase.
Here’s what stands out: these are small employment counts, but the growth rates show where new activity is starting to appear.
Trend to watch: Specialized manufacturing, forestry support and home health care are still small in employment size, but they are moving quickly.
Health care and manufacturing provide scale
The region’s larger sectors are also showing signs of strength. Health care and social assistance grew by 3.8% over one year and 36.1% over five years. With 2,998 jobs, it remains one of North Central’s largest employment anchors. Manufacturing tells a mixed story. The sector employed 2,282 people in 2025 and grew by 38.5% over five years, even though it declined by 4.8% over the past year.
Public administration also recorded strong recent growth, rising 28.8% over one year to reach 1,126 jobs.
How different is North Central from Winnipeg?
Winnipeg’s employment structure looks very different. In Winnipeg, health care and social assistance is the largest sector, with 51,586 jobs. Retail trade follows at 44,447, and manufacturing accounts for 34,102 jobs. Agriculture plays a much smaller role in Winnipeg, with 1,212 jobs.
North Central’s profile is more agriculture-focused and more evenly spread across several major sectors. Agriculture leads, while health care, manufacturing, education, retail and construction all play meaningful roles. That gives the region a distinct labour market identity within Manitoba.
Where are the soft spots?
The data also show areas of weakness. Wholesale trade fell by 25.8% over one year. Accommodation and food services declined by 21.8%. Educational services remains one of the region’s largest sectors, but employment is down 53.6% over five years. Those declines matter because they affect sectors tied closely to local services, business activity and community capacity.
A broad base with new signals to watch
North Central’s labour market has two stories unfolding at once. The first is stability through major sectors such as agriculture, health care, manufacturing, education and retail. The second is emerging growth in smaller, specialized industries that could add new dimensions to the region’s employment base. The next question is whether these fast-growing niches can move from small pockets of activity into larger sources of long-term employment.